UC-NRLF 


AN  OBJECTIVE  METHOD  FOR  DETERMINING 

CERTAIN  FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES 

IN  SECONDARY  AGRICULTURAL 

EDUCATION 


EDGAR 


Suhnir  :'r,:il  l-nltillinci.r  .->!  the  Uc<|u.  i»r  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  i  ot  r'hlu.sophv , 

('.oluinlua   I  'ni\  rrxitx 


EXCHANGE 


AN  OBJECTIVE  METHOD  FOR  DETERMINING 

CERTAIN  FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES 

IN  SECONDARY  AGRICULTURAL 

EDUCATION 


EDGAR  C.  HIGBIE 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Requirements  for  the 
Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy, 
Columbia  University. 


1   . '    ' 


AN  OBJECTIVE  METHOD  FOR  DETERMINING 
CERTAIN  FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES 
IN  SECONDARY  AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION 

INTRODUCTION 

There  is  a  tendency  to  distinguish  somewhat  sharply  be- 
tween general  education  and  vocational  training  for  farm  boys. 
Whether  this  is  advisable  may  be  an  open 

There  is  a  probable  question.  However,  it  aids  in  simply- 
advantage  in  distin-  fying  the  problem  of  curriculum-making 
guishing  rather  in  that  we  can  decide  more  easily  what 
sharply  between  knowledge  really  functions  in  a  particu- 
general  education  lar  phase  of  instruction.  Using  such 
and  vocational  knowledge  as  a  basis  we  can  then  more 
training.  readily  derive  the  necessary  principles 

and  devise  the  best  training  courses. 

1  he  ideas  of  minimal  essentials  and  job  analyses  are  com- 
ing to  be  especially  helpful  in  what  they  can  contribute  to  the 
field    of    secondary    agricultural    instruc- 

Nature  as  well  as  tion.  *  One  cannot,  however,  press  the 
nurture  needs  con-  study  of  these  problems  very  far  without 
sideration  in  educa-  realizing  the  importance  of  another  line 
tional  questions.  that  will  not  permit  itself  to  be  disre- 

garded when  questions  of  materials  and 

methods  are  under  consideration.  Kelly  feels  that  nature  is  more 
important  than  nurture  in  deciding  certain  educational  prin- 
ciples.2 Educational  and  vocational  direction  have  been  receiv- 
ing much  attention  in  city  schools  and  urban  trades  and  indus- 
tries, but  the  writer  is  beginning  to  think  that  "fitness  for  farm- 

1.  They  are  helpful,  not  in  determining  all  that  should  be 
taught  but  rather  in  aiding  in  the  selection  of  the  vital  from  the 
mass  of  available  material  and  organizing  it  into  problems,  pro- 
jects, units,  etc. 

2.  Educational  Guidance,  by  Truman  L.  Kelly,  Ph.  D. — 
Teachers  College  Contribution  to  Education,  Pages  13  and  72. 

48389 


•    tBASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

Ing"  must"  be  'studied  as  well  as  "training  for  farming."  Any 
one  familiar  with  rural  life  recognizes  that  some  men  are  na- 
tural-born farmers,  successful  even  with  very  limited  oppor- 
tunities and  training.  They  progress  rapidly  through  the  hired 
man,  the  tenant  and  the  mortgage  stages  to  independent  owner- 
ship and  wealth,  as  wealth  goes  in  farming.  "You  just  can't 
keep  some  men  down"  applies  in  this  as  well  as  in  other  occu- 
pations. Behind  the  farm  management  factors  of  size,  diversity 
and  productivity  are  personal  qualities  that  may  condition  suc- 
cess and  that  may  need  consideration  in  curriculum-making,  or 
boy-training,  to  a  larger  extent  than  has  yet  been  recognized. 
So  many  men  succeed  without  special  training;  so  many  fail 
with  everything,  apparently,  in  their  favor. 

Are  there  special  qualities  which  tend  to  insure  success? 
If  there  are,  how  can  they  be  determined?  And  when  known, 
can  they  be  induced,  developed  or  grafted  on  to  the  ordinary 
individual?  Or,  can  they  be  pre-determined  and  become  the 
basis  for  effective  vocational  direction?  If  there  are  definite 
characteristics  or  qualities  that  tend  to  appear  in  the  more  suc- 
cessful portion  of  the  farming  population,  what  relation  have 
they  to  the  selection  and  organization  of  subject  matter — indeed 
to  the  whole  scheme  of  secondary  agricultural  education? 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  opening  up  this  more  or  less  unex- 
plored field  that  the  present  study  has  been  pursued.     In  arriv- 
ing at  the  stage  of  the  inquiry  indicated 

Subject  —  matter  above  the  following  steps  or  questions 
needs  early  atten-  have  been  considered :  How  shall  pro- 
tion  in  educational  spective  instructors  be  properly  trained  for 
considerations.  successful  agricultural  teaching?  The 

further   the   study   of  this   question   was 

carried  the  greater  seemed  the  necessity  for  answering  a  sec- 
ond question,  namely,  how  can  basic  questions  in  teacher-train- 
ing be  disposed  of  without  more  surety  as  to  what  shall  be 
taught?  This,  of  course,  necessitates  delving  into  the  secondary 
agricultural  subject-matter  problems  and  here  again  is  confu- 
sion. Secondary  curricula  as  imitations  of  college  curricula,  or 
more  often  merely  "reduced  portions"  of  collegiate  subject-mat- 
ter, were  far  from  satisfactory.  What  shall  we  teach?  How 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION          7 

shall  we  teach?  Shall  we  train  for  general  agricultural  intelli- 
gence or  for  specific  production?  The  further  these  studies 
were  urged  the  more  confusion  seemed  to  result.3  Finally,  so 
far  as  subject-matter  is  concerned,  this  question  presented  itself: 
Would  it  be  possible  to  determine  what  specific  facts  or  prin- 
ciples really  functioned  in  successful  agricultural  production? 
The  answer  to  this  is  important,  as  the  results  of  this  study 
will  clearly  show  and  an  outline  plan  for  the  determination  of 
such  working  knowledge  will  be  given  later.  Leaving  for  the 
present  any  further  consideration  of  subject-matter  problems, 
let  us  state  the  final  question,  already  suggested  and  forced  into 
the  study,  as  being  vital  to  the  whole  field.  Do  men  tend  to 
succeed  in  farming  by  virtue  of  their  physical  capacity,  their 
special  skills  their  mechanical  abilities,  their  general  education, 
their  command  of  technical  facts,  or  by  virtue  of  a  special  type  of 

intelligence  conditioning  ability  to  plan, 

Can  the  type  of  man  to  organize,  to  risk,  etc  ?  In  a  word  would 
that  tends  to  sue-  it  contribute  to  the  discussion  if  the  type 
ceed  in  farming  be  of  man  could  be  "brought  into  the  clear" 
"brought  into  the  —the  type  that  tends  to  succeed  even  with 
clear"?  a  minimum  of  training,  and  regardless, 

sometimes,  of  much  preliminary  experi- 
ence ?  Would  it,  perhaps,  help  to  change  the  focus  of  our  teach- 
ing from  that  of  imparting  useful  knowledge  about  soils,  crops, 
stock  and  the  like  to  that  of  training  the  boy,  trying  to  consider 
and  organize  that  training  around  such  possible  factors  as  man- 
agement, business  ability,  etc?  Furthermore,  would  it  give  us 
a  basis  for  directing  some  boys  into  such  agricultural  specialties 
as  poultry  raising,  truck  gardening,  and  green  house  work  if 
they  appeared  to  lack  those  managerial  qualities  that  the  general 
farmer  seems  to  require. 

3.  At  this  point  the  idea  of  a  job-analysis,  applied  so  well 
by  Allen  to  trades  and  industries,  seemed  to  offer  a  way  out  of 
the  maze  and  the  writer  would  like  to  call  attention  to  some  ex- 
cellent work  being  done  by  Kent  and  Williams  in  applying  this 
method.  He  believes  that  they  are  overcoming  what  might  be 
urged  as  an  objection  to  the  Allen  idea,  namely,  that  it  applies 
directly  to  the  worker  in  industry  rather  than  the  manager.  The 
farm  job  is  a  complex  approximating  the  managerial  type  some- 
what more  than  even  the  skilled  labor  type  of  occupation. 


8  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

The  Successful  Farmer. 

The  determination  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  suc- 
cessful, all-round  farmer  becomes,  then,  the  first  and  in  some 

ways  the  most  important  question  to  be 

The  characteristics  attacked.  In  view  of  the  possible  value 
of  the  all-round  gen-  of  the  method  used  in  this  study  for  de- 
eral  farmer  as  op-  termining  characteristics  in  other  types 
posed  to  the  sped-  of  farming,  such  as  poultry  raising, 
alty  farmer  need  truck  gardening,  fruit  growing,  etc.,  or 
consideration.  even  in  totally  different  occupations,  the 

procedure  will  be  given  in  considerable 

detail.* 

The  following  characteristics,  qualities,  conditions,  or  abili- 
ties were  chosen  after  considerable  thought  as  being  the  most 
usable  and  valuable  for  study.  The  definitions  were  carefully 
and  briefly  drawn  so  as  to  obtain  as  clear-cut  comparison  as 
possible.5  Each  quality  will  be  known  throughout  the  study  by 
the  letter  preceding  it  in  the  definition  list.  A  small  letter  "r" 
with  two  succeeding  letters  in  parentheses  will  be  read  as  the 
correlation  between  the  two  items  on  this  list  that  the  letters 
represent.  For  example,  r(fi)=.732  will  mean  that  the  correla- 
tion between  financial  success  and  native  intelligence  equals  .732. 

(i)  Native  Intelligence:  Original  mental  ability  re- 
gardless of  education  or  special  training;  mental  alertness, 
thought  power. 

(e)  General  Education:  Schooling  or  education  ac- 
quired either  in  or  out  of  school ;  formal  or  self-education. 

(n)  Agricultural  Information:  Working  agricultural 
knowledge  or  facts  acquired  by  attending  an  agricultural  school, 
short  courses,  institutes  or  by  reading  farm  papers,  bulletins,  etc. 

4.  The  reader  is  requested  to  focus  his  attention  on  the 
method  at  first  rather  than  on  the  results  obtained.     Later  an 
attempt  will  be  made  to  interpret  the  data  as  well  as  to  justify 
their  reliability. 

5.  Other  qualities  such  as  industriousness,  character,  na- 
tivity, etc.  were  taken  into  consideration,  but  the  natural  limits 
of  the  study  prevented  any  further  extension  of  the  list. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION          9 

(m)  Managerial  Ability:  Efficiency  in  organizing  farm 
work  and  balancing  the  factors  of  production;  planning,  fore- 
sight. 

(k)  Field  and  Chore  Skills:  Working  to  advantage  as 
in  teaming,  pitching  hay  or  bundles,  shouldering  sacks  of  grain, 
etc. 

(c)  Mechanical  Ability:  Ability  to  construct  or  repair 
farm  tools  and  devices. 

(b)  Business  Ability:  Buying,  selling,  bargaining,  ac- 
counting. 

(p)  Physical  Capacity:  Strength  and  endurance  in  the 
prime  of  life  regardless  of  present  health  or  age. 

(u)  Unpaid  Family  Labor:  Free  help  from  wife  or  chil- 
dren in  the  production  of  crops,  etc. 

To  the  above  were  added  two  others  to  be  considered 
more  especially  as  criteria. 

(f)  Financial  Success:  Ability  to  make  money  in  pro- 
ducing crops,  raising  stock,  or  the  like. 

(v)  Community  Value:  Citizenship,  good  living  stand- 
ard ;  substantial  worth  in  the  life  of  the  community. 

If  the  reader  will  work  out  a  sample  from  his  own  experi- 
ence like  the  one  given  in  Form  A,  he  will  be  in  a  much  better 
mental  position  to  understand  the  method  and  follow  the  later 
development  and  implications  of  the  study. 


10 


BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 
FORM  A.a 


Names 

Finance 

Physical 

Delta 

(Disguised) 

Success  (f) 

Capacity  (p) 

Differences 

W.  B. 

13 

11 

minus  2 

R.  R. 

4 

4 

0 

G.  Z. 

3 

3 

0 

T.  H. 

6 

5 

minus  1 

W.  W. 

11 

12 

plus     1 

A.  W. 

10 

8 

minus  2 

N.  S. 

5 

1 

minus  4 

R.  D. 

1 

2 

plus     1 

A.  K. 

7 

6 

minus  1 

H.  F. 

2 

13 

plus  11 

R.  T. 

8 

7 

minus   1 

S.  M. 

12 

9 

minus  3 

L.  V. 

9 

10 

plus     1 

A  blank  sheet  of  paper  may  be  ruled  roughly  like  Form 
In  the  left  column  the  names  of  thirteen  farmers  should  be 
written.  These  should  be  men  actually 
(or  very  recently)  living  on  farms,  mak- 
ing their  living  from  farming  and  with 
whom  the  person  rating  is  well  acquainted 
in  their  home,  financial  and  community 
relationships.  Reading  the  definition  for 
financial  success  as  given  on  page  9 

choose  the  man  who  best  fits  the  description,  that  is,  the  man 
who  is  most  successful  in  making  money  by  raising  crops,  stock, 
etc.,  and  place  a  figure  "1"  after  his  name  in  the  column  headed 
"Finance  Success."  Then  re-read  the  same  definition  and  choose 
the  man  who  is  the  least  successful  in  this  respect.  Place  a 


A. 


Groups  of  farmers 
may  be  rated  ac- 
cording to  excel- 
lence  or  accomplish- 
ment. 


6.  The  data  used  in  Form  A  were  taken  from  the  report  of 
a  Kansas  senior  in  Farm  Management  and  therefore  represent 
an  actual  group  of  farmers — men  with  whom  this  senior  is  well 
acquainted  in  their  home,  farm  and  community  relationships. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         11 

figure  "13"  after  his  name  in  this  same  column.  Next  decide 
which  man  should  be  considered  as  second  most  successful  and 
place  a  figure  "2"  after  his  name.  Likewise  decide  who  should 
be  considered  next  to  the  least  successful  and  place  a  figure 
"12"  after  his  name.  Continue  this,  working  from  the  extremes, 
until  the  numbers  "1"  to  "13"  appear  in  the  "Finance"  column 
representing  the  numbering  of  the  men  were  it  possible  to  stand 
them  up  before  one  in  the  order  of  their  financial  success. 

Follow  this  same  procedure  for  "Physical  Capacity"  as 
defined.    Again  imagine  the  thirteen  men  to  be  standing  in  line 

before  you.     The  order  would  be  some- 

The  Spearman  "foot  what  different.  W.  B.  (See  form  A)  e.  g. 
rule"  formula  pro-  would  be  transferred  to  a  position  two 
vides  a  simple  meth-  places  up  from  the  lower  end  of  the  scale, 
od  for  obtaining  de-  The  next  two  men  would  hold  their  old 
sired  correlations  places.  T.  H.  would  go  up  one  place.  W. 
from  the  data  at  W.  would  go  down  one  place.  N.  S. 
hand.  leaves  fifth  for  first  place.  H.  F.,  a  very 

successful   man   financially,   goes   to   the 

lowest  place  so  far  as  physical  capacity  is  concerned.  In  spite 
of  this  one  considerable  change,  together  with  several  lesser 
ones  which  keep  the  balance,  you  will  feel  that  as  a  whole  there 
has  not  been  any  very  decided  re-arrangement.  The  two  sep- 
arate rankings  of  the  men  are  not  very  dis-similar.  This  like- 
ness, or  unlikeness,  as  the  case  may  be,  can  be  measured — can 
be  weighted  and  stated  as  a  single  number.  The  "Delta  Column" 
gives  the  basis  for  this  measurement.  The  positive  differences 
must  always  equal  the  negative  differences.  The  total  of  either 
may  be  known  as  Summation  G(SG).  Applying  the  Spearman 
Foot  Rule  Correlation  formula7  the  value  of  this  mutual  relation- 

6SG 

7.     R=l .  SG  in  this  case  equals  "14"  and  n  (num- 

n2— 1 

6x14 

bcr  of  men)   equals  "13."     R=l -=.500.     It  is  custo- 

169—1 

mary  to  state  the  Spearman  values  in  terms  of  the  Pearson 
formula  values  and  in  this  case  R(fp)=.500  or  r(fp)=.732.  See 
pages  167  to  177  Thorndike's  Mental  and  Social  Measurements. 


12  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

ship  is  found  to  equal  .500,  or  in  terms  of  Pearson's  formula, 
.732.        If  there  were  no  change  in  positions  of  the  men  SG 
would  equal  zero  and  the  correlation  would  be  perfect  and  equal 
plus  1.00.    If  the  positions  were  completely  reversed  the  correla- 
tion would  approximate  minus  100.    If  they  were  purely  random, 
SG  equalling  28,  the  correlation  would  be  zero.     This  then  de- 
fines the  limits  and  determines  the  central  point  of  a  scale  which, 
if  stated  in  tenths   covers   twenty   steps 
+  1.000  from  -f-1.00  to  — l.OO.8     The  correlation 

-f-     .900  r(fp)— .732  obtained  above  then  may  be 

conceived  of  as  appearing  well  up  toward 
the  top  of  this  scale  and  therefore  should 
'  be  considered  as  high  in  value.       With 

I  *  3\J^J 

i       4QQ  this  particular  group  of  thirteen  men  (as- 

-f-     .300  suming  the  rankings  to  be  perfect)    the 

-f-     .200  relationship  between    financial  success  in 

farming   and    physical    capacity   is    very 

-000  marked. 

—  .100 

O/"W*\ 

'  Just  what  this  correlation  means  may 

400  ^e  determined  by  considering  a  question 

^500  like  this  :    "Is  physical  capacity  as  defined 

—  .600  cm  page    9 .  a  cause  of  financial  success,  as 

—  .700  regards  this  particular  group,  or  is  it  mere- 

—  .800  ly  a  concomitant  characteristic  that  hap- 

pens to  rank  high.     Relationships  or  cor- 
relation may  be  high  without  necessarily 
being  causal.       We  should  scarcely  say 
that  financial  success  was  a  cause  of  physical  capacity,  yet  a 

8.     When  n=13,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  reach 
—1.00. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         13 

correlation  is  often  considered  both  ways.     Remembering  that 
farming  involves  much  heavy  lifting  like  pitching  hay,  should- 
ering sacks  of  grain,  etc.  and  often  long 

Relations  between  hours,  demanding  much  endurance,  one 
characteristics  or  is  inclined  to  believe  that  physical  capa- 
qualities  may  be  city  tends  to  be  a  "causal  factor"  in  mak- 
causal  or  merely  ing  money  in  farming.  Just  how  im- 
concomitant.  portant  a  factor  will  be  discussed  when 

more  evidence  is  in.     So  far  we  are  only 

asking  for  a  clear  understanding  of  a  rather  simple  process  for 
obtaining,  in  the  form  of  a  single  arithmetical  weighting,  the 
possible  relationship  between  such  illusive  (and  often  other- 
wise immeasurable)  factors  as  the  ones  listed.  To  find  the  ab- 
solute correlation  between  financial  success,  e.  g.,  and  physical 
capacity  the  investigator  might  first  need  to  obtain  a  large 
group  of  farmers  whose  labor  incomes  had  been  determined  by 
the  usual  farm  management  survey  methods.  Then  arrange- 
ments would  have  to  be  made  to  subject  each  one  of  these  men 
to  a  physical  examination,  the  results  of  which  would  have  to 
be  stated  in  the  form  of  an  index  figure  representing  the  com- 
posite findings  of  the  test  or  examination.  Obviously,  such 

procedure  is  well  nigh  impossible. 

• 

Continuing  to  disregard  for  the  present  any  consideration 
of  the  accuracy  of  the  ratings  or  the  value  of  the  relationships 
suggested,  let  us  describe  the  further  steps  followed  in  gather- 
ing the  total  data. 

Form  B,  given  below,  was  decided  upon  after  repeated 
try-outs  with  many  groups.  The  data  included  were  furnished 
by  a  senior  in  Farm  Management  in  one  of  the  Middle  Western 
Agricultural  Colleges.  These,  as  well  as  all  of  the  data  from 
which  basic  conclusions  are  drawn,  were  obtained  by  the  writer 
handling  classes  or  groups  of  men  in  person  at  a  number  of 
universities,  so  that  the  procedure  was  sufficiently  well  stand- 
ardized as  to  make  comparisons  possible.  The  classes  were 
asked  to  follow  directions  "on  faith"  until  the  period  was  nearly 
over  so  as  to  prevent  any  attempt  to  guess  at  the  desires  of  the 
investigator.  There  was  no  intimation  of  what  was  to  come 


14  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

out  of  the  exercise  until  the  main  portion  of  the  data  was  com- 
pleted.   Then  a  sample  rating  was  worked  out  before  the  class 
and  the  method  explained  as  fully  as  pos- 

Proceduro  was      sible  in  the  short  time  available.     After 
standardized    and      giving  the  work  to  several  hundred  peo- 
carefully     guarded.       pie  and  discussing  many  angles  and  ques- 
tions from  instructors  and  bodies  of  keen 

students,  the  writer  is  convinced  that  there  were  few  constant 
errors  that  might  seriously  affect  the  ultimate  results.9 

The  men  were  seated  as  in  a  regular  class  or  laboratory 
period.  Each  man  was  asked  to  make  a  list  of  fourteen  or  fifteen 
farmers  whom  he  knew  very  well — preferably  neighbors  in  his 
home  community  actually  engaged  in  producing  crops  or  stock 
or  both  for  market.  From  this  list  thirteen  names  were  finally 
copied  in  the  left  hand  column  of  Form  "B".  After  a 
careful  reading  of  the  definition  for  each  column,  each 
group  was  ranked  for  all  of  the  columns,  the  completed  report 
appearing  as  shown.  Finally  each  student  stated  at  the  bottom 
of  his  report  sheet  that  all  of  the  men  were  farmers,  and  that  he 
knew  them  very  well.  He  also  indicated  the  type  of  farming 
most  nearly  characteristic  of  the  entire  group.  Reports  without 
these  statements  or  having  material  modifications  were  not  used 
in  the  final  computations. 

9.  Under  the  later  discussion  of  reliability  certain  unavoid- 
able and  perhaps  not  very  serious  weaknesses  of  the  method  will 
be  discussed. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 


XjiunuiuicQ 


tt 

s 

tf 
o 
fc 


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«  N  ffi          ori  Q  W  fa  H 

pcj  <  H    '  <  55  «  <  ffi  «  c^*  J 


16 


BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 


The  next  step  in  the  procedure  is  concerned  with  obtain- 
ing the  "Delta"  columns  and  Summation  G's  for  the  several 
relationships  desired.  First,  Financial  Success,  being  used  as  a 
criterion,  the  Delta  differences  between  it  and  each  successive 
column  (See  Table  I)  are  obtained  from  the  data  in  Form  "B". 
The  accompanying  Table  II  is  composed  of  correlation  coeffici- 
ents as  worked  out  from  these  same  data.  In  order  fully  to  un- 
derstand the  steps  in  what  is  to  follow,  it  would  be  well  for  the 
reader  to  work  these  correlations  through  checking  the  results 
with  Table  II. 


TABLE  I. 
Delta  Columns  from  Data  of  Form  B.9 


f&i 

f&e 

f&n 

f&m 

f&k 

f&c 

f&b 

f£r 

f&u 

f&v 

0 

0 

0 

0 

—12 

—12 

0 

—2 

0 

0 

+1 

—3 

+1 

+1 

+8 

+2 

+1 

0 

0 

-H 

0 

0 

0 

0 

+1 

0 

0 

0 

—2 

—2 

0 

—2 

—2 

0 

+3 

+1 

+4 

+1 

—1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

L     O 

0 

+1 

—1 

—4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

l 

—1 

—2 

—1 

2 

—1 

+1 

+1 

—1 

0 

+6 

+1 

—4 

+2 

+4 

+1 

+4 

0 

0 

+1 

+9 

0 

+1 

+5 

+1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

—1 

—3 

+1 

—1 

—4 

+3 

—1 

0 

0 

0 

+11 

+3 

0 

+11 

+6 

+1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

—1 

+4 

—1 

—1 

+3 

+4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

—9 

—10 

0 

—3 

—10 

—8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

—1 

+4 

—5 

+1 

+3 

+2 

±2 

±5 

±2 

±1 

±24 

±29 

±7 

±14 

±19 

±16 

9.     "f"  in  each  case  is  financial  success  used  as  a  criterion 
with  such  other  qualities  as  intelligence,  education,  etc. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         17 

TABLE  II. 
Summation  G's,  Spearman  Coefficients  and  Pearson  Coefficients. 


Relationships 

SG's 

R's 

r's 

f  &  i 

2 

.928 

.995 

f  &  e 

5 

.822 

.965 

f  &  n 

2 

.928 

.995 

f&m 

1 

.964 

.998 

f  &  k 

24 

.143 

.242 

f  &  c 

29 

—.036 

—.071 

f  &  b 

7 

.750 

.932 

f  &  p 

14 

.500 

.732 

f  &  u 

19 

.322 

.514 

f  &  V 

16 

.429 

.654 

As  stated  previously,  f  and  i  indicate  the  relations  be- 
tween financial  success  and  native  intelligence ;  f  and  e,  or  n  etc., 
substitutes  education  or  information,  or  the  other  qualities  for 
intelligence. 

Each  successive  column  may  be  used  as  a  criterion  and 
delta  differences  between  it  and  all  other  columns  may  be  found. 
This  it  will  be  noted,  makes  it  possible  to  obtain  a  great  many 
inter-relationships  or  correlations — in  the  present  study  as  many 
as  forty  or  fifty  will  be  found  valuable.  The  symbols  r(fi),  r(ie), 
r(in),  etc.  will  be  used  to  indicate  the  correlations  between  (f) 
financial  success  and  (i)  native  intelligence,  between  (i)  native 
intelligence  and  (e)  general  education,  between  (e)  general  edu- 
cation and  (n)  agricultural  information,  etc.  r(f  etc.)  means 
that  financial  success  may  be  used  as  a  criterion  with  all  other 
characteristics;  r(v  etc.)  means  that  community  value  may  be 
similarly  used  with  all  other  characteristics. 

Continuing  to  assume  that  the  rankings  as  given  on  the 
various  Form  B's  are  correct  for  each  particular  group,  it  is 
necessary  to  multiply  the  number  of  groups  ranked  many  fold 
in  order  to  overcome  the  influence  of  such  variable  factors  as 


18  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

size  of  farm,  amount  of  capital,  location,  quality  of  soil,  market- 
ing facilities,  etc.  Therefore  the  final  data  used  for  this  part  of 

the  study  cover  ratings  of  over  one  hun- 

Many  separate  dred  fifty  groups  in  several  middle  west- 
groups  were  rated  ern  states.  Many  more  groups  than  this 
to  overcome  local  number  have  been  rated,  but  the  data  ful- 
variations.  filling  the  requirements  already  stated 

alone  have  been  used  in  the  final  conclu- 
sions. It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that,  as  a  rule,  each  group 
represents  a  particular  community  and  that  these  communities 
are  widely  scattered  throughout  a  number  of  states.  Separate 
studies  of  the  correlations  for  each  group  show  wide  variations 
among  the  groups  together  with  many  significant  and  interest-  ' 
ing  peculiarities.  This  would  be  expected  by  any  one  at  all 
familiar  with  farm  life. 

Since  communities  and  groups  of  farmers  vary  to  such 
great  degrees,  it  is  necessary  to  combine  the  results  for  all  of 
the  groups  in  each  relationship.  This  is  done  by  finding  the 
median  of  all  the  correlations  for  each  particular  relationship. 
The  r's  for  each  summation  G,  however,  need  not  be  computed.  , 
Since  summation  G's  may  appear  in  values  from  0  to  42,  these 
may  be  arranged  as  a  scale  and  the  frequencies  of  the  various 
values  listed  against  this  scale.  The  median  of  these  frequencies 
is  easily  found10  by  counting  in  to  the  mid-point  and  noting  at 
which  summation  G  on  the  scale  this  appears.  This  summation 
G  will  give  the  correlation  desired.  This  correlation  is  the  cen- 
tral tendency  of  the  relationships  for  all  of  the  groups  ranked. 
In  the  present  study  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  summation 
G's  for  each  characteristic  are  listed  from  which  such  central 
tendencies  are  taken. 

10.     See  Chapters  III  and  IV  in  Thorndike's  Mental  &  So- 
cial Measurements. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 


19 


SG 

Frequencies 

Frequencies 
Totaled 

SG 

Frequencies 

Frequencies 
Totaled 

0 

23 

Hill  II 

7 

1 

24 

Hill  Hill  1 

11 

2 

25 

Hill  II 

7 

3 

26 

mil  ii 

7 

4 

27 

Hill  Hill  1 

11 

5 

28 

Hill 

5 

6 

29 

II 

2 

7 

1 

1 

30 

II 

2 

8 

1 

1 

31 

III 

3 

9 

1 

1 

32 

1 

1 

10 

III 

3 

33 

1 

1 

11 

34 

Hill 

5 

12 

1 

1 

35 

1 

1 

13 

Hill  1 

6 

36 

III 

3 

14 

Hill 

5 

37 

1 

1 

15 

Hill  1 

6 

38 

/I 

1 

16 

Hill  1 

6 

39 

17 

Hill  Hill 

10 

40 

18 

Hill  1 

6 

41 

19 

Hill  Hill  1 

11 

42 

20 

Hill  III 

£rfV/ 

21 

HIM   MI 

Hill  Hill  1 

11 

(22) 

Hill  Hill 

10 

Total 

15411 

An  illustration  of  this  is  given.  The  scale  with  the  fre- 
quencies for  the  relationship  between  financial  success  and  phy- 
sical capacity  appears  above.  Behind  the  particular  relationship 
as  given  on  Form  A,  page  10  were  a  group  of  thirteen  Kansas 
farmers.  The  summation  G=±14  for  this  group  appears  as 
one  of  the  five  check  marks  at  the  right  of  the  number  14  on  the 
scale.  This  summation  G,  representing  thirteen  men,  is  only 
one  of  the  154  summation  G's,  each  representing  separate  groups 
of  thirteen  men.  The  mid-point  of  the  frequencies  on  this  scale 


11.     The  median  will  be  found  to  be  at  point  22  on  the  scale 
by  counting  down  the  frequencies  77  points. 


20  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

is  at  SG  22.  Substituting  this  value  in  the  formula  as  given  on 
page  11  and  solving,  r(fp)  is  found  to  equal  .354.  Thus  behind 
this  finally  accepted  total  value  for  the  relationship  between 
financial  success  and  physical  capacity  there  are  154  different 
groups  of  thirteen  men  or  2002  different  farmers  scattered  from 
Ohio  to  Oklahoma.  In  the  following  table  (Table  III)  there- 
fore, each  correlation  (r)  should  be  conceived  of  as  being  the 
central  tendency  value  for  all  of  the  groups  rated.  Moreover,  as 
will  appear  later  in  the  study,  this  value  would  probably  ap- 
proximate the  value  were  2,000,000  farmers  rated  instead  of  2,000. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 


21 


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22  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

Preliminary  Interpretations. 

Ability  to  make  money,  financial  success  in  farming,  will 
be  taken  as  the  first  criterion  in  discussing  possible  conclusions 
from  the  data  given  in  Table  III.  Placing  in  order  of  size  the 
various  correlations  with  financial  success  that  order  is  as  fol- 
lows :12 

r(fm)=.848  /  r(fv)=.587 

r(fb)=.801  •  r(fe)=.514 

r(fi)=732  •  r(fc)=.472 

r(fn)=700  J  r(fp)=.354 

r(fk)=.677  J  r(fu)=.192 

In  their  relationships  with  financial  success,  the  qualities 
defined  on  pages  8  and  9  may  evidently  be  grouped  as  fol- 
lows : 

Important  Less  Important 

Managerial  Ability  Community  Value13 

Business  Ability  General  Education 

Native  Intelligence  Mechanical  Ability 

Technical  Information  Physical  Capacity 

Field  and  Chore  Skills  Unpaid  Family  Labor 

From  these  data  it  is  readily  seen  that  such  qualities  or 
characteristics  as  managerial  ability,  business  ability,  native  in- 
telligence, skills,  etc.  rank  high  and  are  of  evident  importance  in 
attaining  financial  competence.  On  the  other  hand,  education, 
mechanical  ability,  physical  capacity  and  unpaid  family  labor, 
although  positive  in  value,  are  of  less  importance  in  productive 
farming.  All  of  the  characteristics  listed,  except  community 
value  (which  was  introduced  to  be  used  as  a  broader  criterion) 

12.  Remember  that  "f"  in  each  case  refers  to  financial  suc- 
cess and  that  r(fm)=.848  should  be  read  as  r(fm)  and  conceived 
of  as  the  correlation  between  financial  success  and  managerial 
ability.     Similarly  r(fu)=.192  is  read  r(fu)  and  is  the  value  of 
the  correlation  between  financial  success  and  unpaid  family  la- 
bor. 

13.  Not  to  be  thought  of  as  a  cause ;  rather  a  criterion. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         23 

might  act  as  causal  factors.  If  so,  the  order  and  relative  values 
become  interesting.  One  often  hears  the  intimation  that  large 

families  with  women  and  children  work- 

The  relative  order  ing  at  chores  or  in  the  fields  are  essential 
of  t  h  e  causal  fac-  to  financial  success.  The  older  native 
tors  of  success  is  stock  sometimes  resents  the  coming  of 
important.  the  newer,  more  prolific  races  into  their 

communities  and  apparently  forging 

ahead  in  spite  of  educational  deficiencies  and  early  finan- 
cial limitations.  Rating  for  unpaid  family  help  in  produc- 
tion was  obtained  merely  to  get  a  check  on  this  point.  The  ap- 
parently low  value  of  this  relationship,  r(fu)— .192,  which  may 
IK-  interpreted  as  meaning  that  help  of  that  kind,  beyond  the 
community  average,  is  not  generally  necessary  for  success,  per- 
mits us  to  disregard  it  as  liable  seriously  to  affect  any  conclu- 
sions that  may  be  needed  in  the  development  of  educational  prin- 
ciples. 

The  correlation  between  financial  success  and  physical 
capacity  r(fp)=.354,  is  also  so  low  as  to  eliminate  itself  in  the 
matter  of  immediate  consideration.  It  will,  however,  appear 
later  as  a  minor  factor  of  interest  in  its  possible  relationships  to 
skills  and  mechanical  ability. 

Very  different,  however,  are  the  relationships  between 
financial  success  and  managerial  ability,  business  ability,  techni- 
cal information,  etc.  It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  men  lacking  in 
om  or  more  of  these  qualities,  apparently  achieving  success,  but 
a  closer  study  of  conditions  would  probably  reveal  other  factors 
ojainiin-.  '<uch  as  exceptional  start,  splendid  soil,  advantageous 
location  and  the  like,  which  would  tend  to  over-balance  special 
>nal  handicaps.  With  such,  more  or  less  uncontrolled,  fac- 
tors favorable  plus  good  managerial  and  business  ability  backed 
by  a  fund  of  practical,  working  facts,  what  might  be  the  success 
attained  ! 

Undoubtedly  all  of  the  characteristics  listed,  except  com- 
munity value,  are  direct  causal  factors  of  success  in  the  order 
iriven.  Size  of  family  and  physical  capacity  often  backed  up  by 
non-American  standards  of  living,  however,  do  not  take  the  place 


24  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

of  importance  that  is  sometimes  ascribed  to  them.  If  these  cor- 
relations hold  (and  they  will  be  subjected  to  further  tests  and 
analyses),  farming  takes  its  place  in  the  social  order  not  only 
as  a  skilled  type  of  work  but  as  a  profession  requiring  direct 
managerial  and  business  ability  conditioned  by  special  intelli- 
gence and  training.  The  kind  of  training  as  an  educational 
question  will  receive  its  merited  attention  later  in  the  study. 

If  it  is  objected  that  financial  success  is  too  low  a  stand- 
ard or  criterion,  it  will  be  noted  that  the  inter-correlation 

r(fv)=.587  indicates  that  financial  success 

Financial  success  is  and  community  value  (see  definition) 
a  proper  criterion.  have  a  decided  tendency  to  go  together. 

Further,  technical  training  is  undoubtedly 

training  for  production  and  financial  success  is  a  result  and  pos- 
sible measure  of  production.  Production,  it  may  be  added,  is 
the  usual  measure  of  success  in  industry. 

Considering  community  value,  not  so  much  as  a  criterion 
but  as  to  its  conditioning  elements,  the  following  correlations 
are  of  interest:  r(vi)=.709;  r(ve)=.654;  r(vn)==.700. 

These  indicate  that  a  man's  value  to  his  neighborhood  is 
rather  highly  dependent  upon  or  coincident  with  his  native  in- 
telligence, his  technical  information,  and  his  general  education. 
Incidentally  this  same  man  seems  to  possess  rather  positive 
qualities  as  a  business  man  and  as  a  manager. 

Continuing  this  method,  one  might  discuss  all  of  the  basal 
and  inter-relations,  using  each  quality  successively  as  a  criterion, 
but  this  would  be  chiefly  a  matter  of  social  interest  and  would 
not  bear  so  directly  upon  the  educational  interpretations  toward 
which  the  study  is  progressing.  So  far  we  have  considered  re- 
lationships between  two  qualities  only.  There  remains  a  further 
step  of  special  value  in  this  type  of  investigation. 

Partial  Correlations. 

Partial  correlations  offer  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
valuable  aids  in  interpreting  the  data  at  hand.  Their  possible 
use  in  analyzing  out  some  of  the  more  illusive  factors  and  char- 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         25 

acteristics  of  various  types  of  industry  warrant  a  somewhat  de- 
tailed description  of  their  application  to  this  particular  study. 

Partial  correlations  aid  in  eliminating  disturbing  factors — 

distortions  that  occur  because  of  the  difficulty  in  rating  pure 

qualities  and  relationships.  Moreover,  this 

Partial  correlations  very  value  in  separating  out  the  unde- 
provide  a  method  of  sired  or  disturbing  elements  makes  it  pos- 
analyzing  charact-  sible  to  analyze,  to  break  them  up  into 
eristics.  their  elements.  They  provide  for  ex- 

ample,  a  method  of  analysis  of   such  a 

complex  as  managerial  ability.  Their  use  may  be  illustrated  by 
considering  the  pure  relationship  existing  between  financial  suc- 
cess and  field  and  chore  skills.  The  definitions  for  field  and 
chore  skills  and  for  mechanical  ability  seem  to  involve  very  dif- 
ferent concepts  but  both  characteristics  have  to  do  with  handl- 
ing external  things — horses,  tools,  machines,  and  the  like.  It  is 
very  probable,  therefore,  that  one's  ratings  for  skills  may  be 
more  or  less  mixed  with  one's  rating  for  mechanical  ability.  If 
so,  can  the  mechanical  part  of  the  skill  be  cast  out  of  the  rela- 
tionship ?  Or,  to  consider  it  as  a  chemist  might  in  manipulating 
the  elements  in  an  experiment,  can  it  be  held  constant  or  con- 
trolled while  the  other  elements  are  eliminated  or  used  in  vary- 
ing relationships?  Can  the  pure  relationship  between  financial 
success  and  skill  be  determined  while  the  mechanical  element, 
that  may  be  included  inadvertently  or  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
composition  of  desirable  qualities  due  to  valuable  common  ele- 
ments, is  held  in  abeyance  or  control? 

Referring  again  to  Table  III,  the  following  values  may 
be  found  r(fk)=.677,  r(fc)=.472,  r(kc)=.654.  These  values 

may  be  called  total  values.  In  spite  of 

Desirable  qualities  the  large  number  of  judgments  behind 
may  have  common  them  there  may  be  a  constant  tendency 
elements.  to  confuse  skills  and  mechanical  ability. 

Moreover,  as  suggested  above,  there  are 

undoubtedly  actual  relations  due  to  common  elements  that  can- 
not be  separated.  From  a  common  sense  view  this  is  very  evi- 
dent. It  is  desirable  to  know,  however,  in  deciding  questions 


26  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

of  subject-matter,  how  much  time  should  be  devoted  to  develop- 
ing farm  skills,  how  much  to  training  in  carpentry,  engine  repair, 
and  the  like.  What  is  the  "pure"  relation,  we  are  anxious  to  dis- 
cover, between  success  in  farming  and  field  and  chore  skills? 
The  following  formula14  provides  a  method  of  getting  rid  of 
the  purely  mechanical  part  of  the  relation  and  r(fk)  :c  may 
be  read  as  the  correlation  between  financial  success  and  field 
and  chore  skills  with  mechanical  ability  eliminated,  equalized 
or  controlled: 

r(fk)-[f(fc)Xr(kc)] 
r(fk)  :c= 


VI— r(fc)2     VI—  r(kc)2 
Substituting  the  above  values  in  this  equation,  it  takes  the  form : 

.677— (.472X-654) 
r(fk)  :c=- 

.8827X7599 

Solving,  r(fk)  :c=.549.  This  indicates  that  there  was  some 
confusion  or  constant  error — the  total  correlation  r(fk)— .677 
being  in  this  case  reduced  in  value  to  .548.  On  the  other  hand, 
what  effect  may  a  conception  of  skills  have  on  a  conception  of 
mechanical  ability?  Solving  similarly  we  find  r(fc)  :k=.052. 
This  is  rather  startling.  Does  it  mean  that  no  mechanical  abil- 
ity is  needed  on  the  farm?  Obviously  not,  but  it  may  mean 
that  a  peculiar  type  of  mechanical  ability  is  needed  that  tends  in 
rating  to  get  badly  mixed  with  skills.  At  least,  it  opens  up  the 
question  of  kind  of  mechanical  ability  and  any  one  familiar  with 
actual  mechanical  knowledge  needed  in  operating  a  farm  knows 
that  carpenterial  ability  as  shown  by  a  cabinet  maker  or  house 
carpenter  is  not  particularly  desirable.  Moreover,  one  may  im- 
mediately call  to  mind  instances  where  mechanically-minded 
farmers  who  purchased  threshing  rigs  often  finally  lost  not  only 
their  machines,  but  their  farms  as  well.  Suffice  this  correlation 
to  show  that  the  question  needs  attention  if  we  ar.e  to  devise 

14.  See  "An  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Statistics"  by  G. 
Undy  Yule,  Chas.  Griffin  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London ;  Chapter  on  Par- 
tial Correlations ;  also  Mental  and  Social  Measurements  by  E.  L. 
Thorndike,  pages  180-182;  and  Educational  Guidance,  T.  L. 
Kelly,  Ph.  D.,  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         27 

proper  training  work  (manual  training?)  for  farm  boys.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  real  consideration  of  training  for  field  and  chore 
skills  is  shown  to  be  needed,  for  over  half  of  the  people  rated  are 
probably  farming  with  limited  abilities  in  this  respect. 

Again  one  is  lead  to  ask  how  much  physical  capacity  enters 
into  this  question  of  skills?  Can  we  eliminate  that  also?15  Sub- 
stituting the  physical  capacity  correlation  for  mechanical  ability,, 
we  use  the  following:  r(fk)=.677,  r(fp)=.354,  r(kp)=.567,  and 
solving  the  new  equation  r(fk)  :p— .618.  Again  we  are  inclined 
to  remember  that  it  was  not  always  the  strongest  boy  that  shoul- 
dered the  sack  of  grain  most  easily  or  held  out  best  in  the  long 
day's  stacking  work.  One  step  further:  Can  we  get  both  of 
these  confusing  factors  out  of  skill,  that  is  can  we  find  the  value 
of  r(fk)  :cp?  Using  the  following  formula: 

r(fk)  :c-[r(fp)  :cXr(kp)  :c] 
r(fk)  :cp= 


VI— r(fp)2:c     VI— r(kp)2:c 

we  find  that  r((fk)  :cp=.5l5.  This  tends  again  to  back  up  the 
idea  that  there  is  a  special  farm  type  of  skill  that  needs  to  be  sub- 
jected to  special  study.  Whether  it  is  an  innate  ability  or  can  be 
taught  is  also  an  important  question. 

Two  or  more  disturbing  factors  may  be  successively  elim- 
inated. The  formula  for  r(fi)  :e  n  m,  etc.,  will  be  the  highest  one 
used  for  this  study.16  In  order  to  promote  accuracy  and  facility 
it  is  desirable  where  a  large  number  of  relations  are  to  be  consid- 
ered to  adopt  a  standard  form  of  procedure.  Table  IV  illus- 
trates this  method.  Column  1  is  the  total  or  partially  cleared 
correlation ;  column  2  is  the  numerator  of  the  formula;  column  3 
is  the  denominator,  and  column  4  is  the  new  or  cleared,  result- 
ing correlation. 

15.  "Eliminate*'  or  "cast  out"  should  hereafter  be  consid- 
ered in  this  larger  aspect  suggested  above. 

16.  r(fi)  :en — [r(fm)  :enXr(im)  :en] 

r(fi)  : 


VI— r(fm)2:en     VI—  r(im)2:en 


28  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

The  use  of  Kelly's  tables  will  greatly  facilitate  the  compu- 
tation work.17  Several  of  these  should  be  studied  through  to 
obtain  the  full  force  and  value  of  the  method.  Procedure  with  it 
tends  to  do  away  with  skepticism  that  naturally  at  first  arises. 
Table  V  which  follows  is  taken  from  the  computations  as  indi- 
cated for  Table  IV,  the  last  column  or  the  cleared  correlation 
only  being  selected. 

17.     Bulletin  of  University  of  Texas  No.  27,  1916. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 


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30  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

TABLE  V. 

r(fi)    =732;  r(fi)  :e=.604;  r(fi)  :n=.451 ;  r(fi)  :m=.229 
r(fi)  :en=.525 

r(fe)  =.514;  r(fe)  :i=— .047;  r(fe)  :n=—.110;  r(fe)  :m=.000 
r(fe)  :b=.061 ;  r(fe)  :in— .319;  r(fe)  :im=— .143 

r(fn)  =700;  r(fn)  :i=.351;  r(fn)  :e=.557;  r(fn)  :m=.134 
r(fn)  :b=.278;  r(fn)  :ei=.458 

r(fm)=.848;  r(fm)  :k=714;  r(fm)  :p=.824;  r(fm)  :i=.649 
r(fm)  :e=786;  r(fm)  :n=. 675 ;  r(frn)  :c=795 
r(fm)  :b=.572;  r(fm)  :ie=.656;  r(fm)  :in=.586 
r(fm)  :en=.679;  r(fm)  :ic=.636;  r(fm)  :kc=713 
r(fm)  :ib=.508;  r(fm)  :eb=.580;  r(fm)  :nb=.522 
r(fm)  :ien=.554;  r(fm)  :kp=728;  r(fm)  :cp=785 
r(fm)  :ip=.635  ;  r(fm)  :ik=.564 

r(fk)  =.677;  r(fk)  :m=.221 ;  r(fk)  :c=.548;  r(fk)  :i=.430 

r(fk)  :p=.618;  r(fk)  :im=.197;  r(fk)  :cp=..515 

r(fc)  =.472;  r(fc)  :k=.052;  r(fc)  :i=.163;  r(fc)  :m=.079 
r(fc)  :p=.396 

r(fb)  =.801 ;  r(fb)  :m=.386;  r(fb)  :n=.592;  r(fb)  :i=.555 
r(fb)  :e=717 

r(fp)  =.354;  r(fp)  :i=.198;  r(fp)  :k=.050;  r(fp)  :c=.226 

r(ie)  =732;  r(ie)  :n=.356;  r(ie)  :p=749;  r(ie)  :b=.527 
r(ie)  :v=.501 ;  r(ie)  :m=.522 

r(in)  =732;  r(in)  :e=.356;  r(in)  :b=.403 ;  r(in)  :m=.334 
r(in)  :v=.469. 

r(im)  =772;  r(im)  :e=.605 ;  r(im)  :n=.475 ;  r(im)  :k=.615 
r(im)  :c=.684;  r(im)  :b=.428;  r(im)  :e=.605 
r(im)  :en=.523;  r(im)  :p=744 

r(ik)  =.606;  r(ik)  :c=.412;  r(ik)  :m=.145 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  31 

TABLE  V—  (Continued) 


r(ic)  =.514;  r(ic)  :k=.196;  r(ic)  :m=.213 


r(ib)  =752;  r(ib)  :e=.568;  r(ib)  :n=.463;  r(ib)  :m=.350 

r(ip)  =.307;  r(ip)  :e=.374 

r(iv)  =709;  r(iv)  :e=.443;  r(iv)  ;n=.404 

r(en)  =.801  ;  r(en)  :b=.659;  r(en)  :v=.632;  r(en)  :m=.658 
r(en)  :i=.567 

r(em)=.606;  r(em)  :i=.094;  r(em)  :n=—  .031;  r(em)  :b=.255 
r(em)  :in=  —  .243 

r(ek)  =.414;  r(ek)  :c=.206 

r(ec)  =.414;  r(ec)  :k=.206. 

r(eb)  =.606;  r(eb)  :n=.049;  r(eb)  :m=.255  ;  r(eb)  :i=.124 

r(ep)=.071;r(ep):i=—.237 

r(ev)  =.654;  r(ev)  :i=.281  ;  r(ev)  :n=.217 

rfnm)=772;  r(nm)  :b=.454;  r(nm)  :e=.604;  r(nm)  :k=.626 
r(nm)  :i=.475  ;  r(nm)  :ie=.516 

r(nv)  =700;  r(nv)  :e=.386;  r(nv)  :i=.376 

r(mk)=700;  r(mk)  :e=.621  ;  r(mk)  :c=.556;  r(mk)  :i=.458 
r(mk)  :p=.648;  r(mk)  :ic=.414;  r(mk)  :n=.480 

r(mc)=.5!4;  r(mc)  :i=.213;  r(mc)  :p=.444;  r(mc)  :ik=^.022 
r(mc)  :kp=.101 

r(mb)=.801  ;  r(mb)  :n=.541  ;  r(mb)  :v=.691  ;  r(mb)  :i=.521 
r(mb)  :e==.691 

r(mp)=.354;  r(mp)  :k=—  .073  ;  r(mp)  :c=.213;  r(mp)  :i=.193 
r(mp)  :kc=—  .070 


32  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

TABLE  V— (Concluded) 

r(mv)=.606;  r(mv)  :b=.255 

r(kc)  =.654;  r(kc)  :i=.502;  r(kc)  :e=.581 ;  r(ke)  :p=.588 
r(kc)  :m=.478;  r(kc)  :im=.465 

r^kp)  =.567;  r(kp)  :c=.471 ;  r(kp)  :m=.477 

r(cp)=.354;  r(cp)  :k=— .027;  r(op)  :m=.213;  r(cp)  :km=— .019 

r(bn)  =.732;  r(bn)  :i=.403;  r(bn)  :e=.520;  r(bn)  :m=.298 

r(bv)=.606;  r(bv)  :m=.255 

r(nk)=.587;  r(nk)  :m=.103 

r(cp)=.354;  r(cp)  :m=.213 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         33 

Further  Interpretations. 

In  order  to  be  sure  that  the  reader  understands  the  source 
of  the  data  for  Table  V  it  will  be  well  to  review  the  succes- 
sive steps  that  have  led  up  to  it.     Form 

The  successive  A,  Page  10  gives  the  ratings  on  two  of 
steps  leading  up  to  the  eleven  characteristics  that  were  de- 
Table  V  need  to  be  fined  on  pages  8  &  9.  This  is  for  one 
clearly  understood.  group  only  of  thirteen  farmers  as  reported 
by  a  Kansas  Senior.  It  is  thus  simplified 

to  show  the  method  of  obtaining  the  summation  G's  by  finding 
the  delta  differences  between  the  positions  of  the  men  in  their 
own  group.  The  SG  obtained  gives  the  datum  for  use  in  the 
Spearman  "Foot  Rule"  formula  described  on  page  11.  The  one 
other  unknown  quantity  needed  being  n19  or  the  number  of  men 
rated  which  in  this  study  remains  constant  at  thirteen.  Form  B 
given  on  page  15  is  the  blank  on  which  the  data  for  all  of  the 
groups  were  obtained.  One  hundred  fifty-eight  of  these  consti- 
tute the  original  data  of  this  part  of  the  study. 

Table  I,  page  16,  shows  how  the  successive  SG's,  using 
financial  success  as  a  criterion,  were  tabulated.  Similar  tables 
were  obtained  using  each  of  the  characteristics  or  criteria  result- 
ing in  over  forty  delta  difference  columns  for  each  of  the  one 
hundred  fifty-eight  Form  B's.  Table  II  page  17  shows  the 
tabulation  of  the  successive  SG's,  the  "Foot  Rule"  coefficients 
and  the  resulting  Pearson  coefficients  for  the  relationships  using 
financial  success  as  a  criterion.20  Table  III  is  the  first  composite 
table  and  contains  the  completed  and  finally  accepted,  total  cor- 
relations. The  characteristics  listed  across  the  top  are  to  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  or  in  correlation  with  the  successive  cri- 

19.  Not  to  be  confused  with  the  "n"  used  to  denote  "informa- 
tion" as  a  characteristic. 

20.  The  computation  of  each  of  these  coefficients  is  un- 
necessary (see  page  17)  so  that  these  tables  will  not  appear 
as  a  matter  of  record. 


34  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

teria  at  the  left.21  They  should  be  read  as  follows :  The  corre- 
lation between  financial  success  and  native  intelligence  equals 
.732;  between  financial  success  and  managerial  ability  equals 
.848;  the  correlation  between  education  and  intelligence  equals 
.732 ;  between  education  and  skills  equals  .414 ;  and  so  on  for  all 
of  the  relationships  listed.  Finally  Table  V  gives  the  resulting 
partial  coefficients  as  obtainable  from  the  data  of  Table  III. 

Table  III  alone  is  of  great  interest  and  value  and  pro- 
vides a  source  for  important  principles  of  curriculum-making. 
Table  V  with  its  possibilities  of  further  extension,  however,  pro- 
vides almost  unlimited  material  for  study  in  this  field.  The  out- 
standing points  only  will  be  discussed. 

Let  us  approach  the  study  of  the  data  of  Table  V  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  relative  importance  of 

The  data  of  Table  the  causal  factors  of  success  as  described 
V  may  be  studied  on  pages  22  &  23.  The  highest  factor — 
from  the  standpoint  r(fm)  equals  .848,  managerial  ability — is 
of  the  apparent  rel-  evidently  the  major  cause.  From  the 
ative  importance  of  table  let  us  select  all  of  the  financial 
the  causal  factors  success-management  correlations  that 
of  success.  have  been  computed : 

r(fm)  :p=.824  r(fm)  :n=.675 

r(fm)  :c=.795  r(fm)  :i=.649 

r(fm)  :e=.786  r(fm)  :b=.572 

r(fm)  :k=.714 

Using  the  data  having  only  one  characteristic  eliminated  or 
held  constant  it  is  readily  seen  that  business  ability  enters  more 
largely  into  the  financial  success,  management  relationships  than 
does  any  other  quality  while  physical  capacity  affects  the  rela- 
tionship least  of  all.  Again  native  intelligence  stands  next  to 
business  ability  in  importance  while  mechanical  ability  stands 
next  to  physical  capacity  in  lack  of  importance.  The  factors  of 
importance  and  more  or  less  non-importance  may  be  listed  as 
follows : 

21.  Let  it  be  constantly  remembered  that  each  value  given 
in  this  table  is  the  mid-point  value  of  one  hundred  fifty  differ- 
ent correlations.  It  is  the  central  tendency  of  all  of  the  rela- 
tionships that  were  obtained  for  the  particular  relationship  in 
question. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  35 

Important  Less  Important 

(b)  Business  ability  (p)  Physical  capacity 

(i)  Native  intelligence  (c)  Mechanical  ability 

(n)  Technical  information  (e)  Education 

(k)  Skills 

The  conclusion  from  these  data  seems  very  clear  :  The  good 
farm  manager  is  possessed  of  good  business  ability  and  a  high 
native  intelligence  supported  with  a  fund  of  technical  informa- 
tion and  considerable  skill.  On  the  other  hand  physical  capac- 
ity, mechanical  ability  and  general  education  take  positions  of 
less  importance  in  the  analytic  break-up  thus  attempted.  Let  us 
select  certain  further  partial  correlations  of  interest  from  Table 
V  and  arrange  them  in  order  of  size  of  the  coefficients  : 

r(fm)  :cp=.785  r(fm)  :in=.586 

r(fm)  :kp=  .728  r(fm)  :eb—  .580 

r(fm)  :kc=.713  r(ftn)  :ik=.564 

r(fm)  :en=:.679  r(fm)  :ien=.554 

r(fm)  :ie=  .656  r(fm)  :nb=.522 

r(fm)  :ic=  .636  r(fm)  :ib=.508 
r(fm)  :i 


In  this  list  the  elimination  from  the  financial  success-man- 
agement relation  of  mechanical  ability  and  physical  capacity  re- 
duces the  value  very  little  —  r(fm)  equals  .848;  r(fm)  :c  equals 
.795  ;  r(fm)  :p  equals  .824,  and  r(fm)  :cp  equals  .785.  It  is  clear, 
also,  that  mechanical  ability  is  a  stronger  factor  than  physical 
capacity  in  affecting  what  deduction  is  obtained.  Considering 
likewise  the  next  highest  partial  correlation  a  similar  result  is 
found—  r(fm)—  848;  r(fm)  :k  equals.714;  r(fm)  :p=.824; 
r(fm)  :kp=.728.  Skill,  like  mechanical  ability,  enters  more 
largely  than  physical  capacity  into  the  financial-management  re- 
lation. Approaching  these  from  the  other  end  of  the  list  we  have 
r(fm)  :ib=.508.  Evidently  intelligence  and  business  ability  en- 
ter the  relationship  in  question  very  decidedly.  The  partials 
r(fm)  :b=.572  and  r(fm)  :i=.649  indicate  that  business  ability  is 
the  stronger  of  the  two.  This  probably  means  that  business 


36  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

ability  has  many  elements  in  common  with  managerial  ability 
while  native  intelligence  may  be  considered  as  an  important 
causal  factor  of  both. 

Arranging  a  second  list  of  relatively  important  factors  or 
combinations  of  factors,  we  have  the  following: 

Important.  Less  Important 

Intelligence  —  business  Mechanical  —  physical 

Information  —  business  Skill—  physical 

Intelligence  —  skills  Skill  —  mechanical 

Education  —  business  Education  —  information 

Intelligence  —  information  Intelligence  —  education 

Intelligence  —  physique  Intelligence  —  mechanical 

The  elimination  of  the  intelligence-education-information 
combination,  r(fm)  :ien=.554,  considered  in  the  light  of  r(fm)  :i 
=.649;  r(fm)  :n=.675;  r(fm)  :in=.586;  r(fm)  :ie=.656;  r(fm)  :en 
=.679  ;  and  r(fm)  :e=.786  seems  to  indicate  that  education  is 
not  a  requisite  element  in  the  relationship. 

Again  let  us  list  all  correlations  having  managerial  ability 
used  as  a  criterion  : 


r(mi)  :p=.744  r(mi)  :n^. 

r(mb)  :v=691  r(mk)  :i=.458 

r(mb)  :e=  .691  r(mi)  :b=.428 

r(mi)  :c=.684  r(mn)  :b=  .454 

r(mk)  :p=.648  r(mc)  :p=.444 

r(mn)  :k=.626  r(mv)  :b=.255 

r(mk)  :e=.621  r(me)  :b=.255 

r(mi)  :e=.605  r(mp)  :c=.213 

r(mn)  :e=.604  r(mc)  :i=.213 

r(mk)  :c=.556  r(mp)  :i=.193 

r(mb)  :n=.541  r(me)  :i=.094 

r(mk)  :n=.480  r(me)  :n=^.031 

r  (mn)  :i=.475  r(mp)  :k=  —.073 

The  management-intelligence  relation   remains  little  af- 
fected when  physical  capacity,  mechanical  ability  and  general 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         37 

education  are  successively  eliminated.  On  the  other  hand  it  is 
much  further  reduced  if  information  or  business  ability  are  taken 
out. 

The  management-business  relation  is  less  affected  by  the 
presence  of  the  general  education  factor  than  by  the  informa- 
tion factor. 

The  management-skill  relation  is  little  affected  by  the 
presence  of  the  physical  or  the  education  elements,  slightly  more 
by  the  mechanical  element,  and  still  more  by  the  information 
and  intelligence  elements. 

The  management-information  relation  is  less  dependent 
upon  skills  and  education  than  upon  native  intelligence  and 
business  ability. 

The  management-education  relation  is  low  at  all  times 
but  the  elimination  of  information  and  general  intelligence  fac- 
tors more  seriously  affect  it  than  the  elimination  of  the  business 
factor. 

These  partial  correlations  substantiate  the  first  impres- 
sions regarding  the  importance  of  the  managerial  factor  in 
farming.  Moreover  they  enable  us  to  analyze  the  farm  man- 
agement characteristic  into  some  of  its  elements.  Of  most  im- 
portance in  good  management  are  those  qualities  that  condition 
good  business  power.  A  quality  common  to  both  business 
power  and  managerial  ability  and  probably  indicative  of  the 
necessity  of  considering  original  nature  in  farm-training  is  na- 
tive intelligence.  At  all  times  this  characteristic  maintains  its 
importance.  This  is  noticeable  even  when  business  ability  and 
information  are  eliminated  and  it  is  probable  that  such  reduc- 
tions as  are  indicated  by  the  series  r(mi)=772;  r(mi)  :n=.475 
and  r(mi)  :b=.428  are  due  to  common  elements  rather  than  elim- 
inations. Another  important  factor  in  good  management  is  tech- 
nical information.  The  lowest  partials  computed  in  this  relation 
— r(mn)  :i=.475  and  r(mn)  :b=.454 — point  to  the  same  interpre- 
tations as  suggested  by  the  management-intelligence  correlations. 
Field  and  chore  skills  and  management  also  hold  their  tendency 
to  keep  together  regardless  of  eliminations. 


38  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

Managerial  ability,  therefore,  is  vital  to  success  in  farm- 
ing and  it  is  a  quality  that  depends  far 

Managerial     ability       more  on  native  intelligence  than  on  edu- 

is  vital  to  success  in       cation  or  training.    It  and  business  ability 

farming.  probably   have   many   common    elements 

which  in  turn  are  conditioned  by  a  special 

type  of  intelligence — a  type  of  intelligence  which  should  be  sub- 
jected to  further  analyses. 

Next  to  managerial  ability  among  the  causal  factors  of 

success  as   given   on  pages   19-20  stands  business   ability.     A 

partial  discussion  of  this  quality  has  ap- 

Business  ability  i  s  peared  in  connection  with  the  discussion 
hard  to  dissociate  of  management.  It  is  impossible,  at  least 
from  managerial  with  the  present  data,  to  dissociate  it 
ability,  probably  be-  from  management.  Each  has  apparently 
cause  o  f  common  the  same  effect  on  partial  correla- 
element.  tions  as  the  other,  indicating,  as  sug- 

gested above,  that  they  have  common  ele- 
ments that  condition  both  qualities.22  The  third  characteristic 
in  the  relative  value  of  the  coefficients  is  native  intelligence — 
r(fi)— .732.  This  quality  enters  into  other  factors  and  must  be 
considered  largely  as  a  cause  of  those  other  factors.  The  co- 
efficients of  interest  in  this  connection  may  be  listed  as  follows: 


r(fi)=732  r(mi)=772  r(if)=732 

r(fi)  :e=.604  r(mi)  :p=744  r(im)— 772 

r(fi)  :en=.525  r(mi)  :c=.684  r(ib)=752 

r(fi)  :n=.451  r(mi)  :e= .605  r(ie)=732 

r(fi)  :m=.229  r(mi)  :en=.523  r(in)=732 

r(mi)  :n=.475  r(iv)=  709 

r(mi)  :b=.428  r(ik)=.606 

r(ic)=.514 

r(ip)=.307 


22.  The  determination  of  these  common  elements  together 
with  their  divergent  elements  would  make  an  interesting  and 
valuable  study  in  itself  but  for  this,  new  ratings  are  necessary. 


RUI1AL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  39 

r(vi)=.709 
r(vi)  :e==.443 
r(vi)  :n=.404 

r(fm)=.848  r(£k)=.677  r(fc)=.472 

r(fm)  :i=.649  r(fk)  :i=.430  r(fc)  :i=.163 

f(fb)=.801  r(fn)=700  r(fp)=.354 

r(fb)  :i=.5SS  r(fn)  :i=.351  r(fp)  :i=.198 

r(fe)=.514 
r(fc):i=—  .047 

Native  intelligence  correlates  in  order  of  value  with  the 
other  factors  as  follows :  (See  Table  III) 

1.  Management  5.  Community  value 

2.  Business  6.  Skills 

3.  Education  7.  Mechanical  ability 

4.  Information  8.  Physical   capacity. 

In  its  relation  to  financial  success  native  intelligence  is 
affected  by  eliminating  other  qualities  in  order  as  follows : 

1.  Business  4.     Mechanical  ability 

2.  Information  5.     Physical  capacity 

3.  Education 

In  its  relation  to  community  value  it  is  more  affected  by 
the  elimination  of  information  than  by  the  elimination  of  edu- 
cation. 

Again  successively  eliminating  intelligence  from  the  rela- 
tion between  financial  success  and  the  remaining  qualities,  it  is 
seen  to  affect  the  financial -education  relationship  much  more 
vitally  than  e.  g.  the  financial-management  relationship. 

It  would  seem  that  we  could  draw  the  conclusion  from  the 
above  that  native  intelligence  as  defined  on  page  8  is  a  very 
vital,  causal  factor  conditioning  manager- 
Native  intelligence  ial  ability  and  business  ability  and  techni- 
seems  to  be  a  vital  cal  information.  The  importance  of  this 
factor  conditioning  fact  in  working  out  methods  of  training 
success.  and  in  vocational  direction  can  scarcely  be 

over-estimated. 


40  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

The  fourth  causal  factor  is  information.  A  study  of  this 
characteristic  is  evidently  of  direct  importance  in  curriculum- 
making.  The  coefficients  of  interest  in  this  connection  follow : 

r(ne)=.801  r(fn)  :e=.557  r(nm)  :k=.626 

r(nm)=772  r(fn)  :ei=.458  r(nm)  :e=. 

r(ni)=:732  r(fn)  :i=.351  r(nm)  :ie=. 

r(nb)=732  r(fn)  :b=.278  r(nm)  :i=.475 

r(nv)=700  r(fn)  :em=.167  r(nm)  :b^.454 

r(nf)=700  r(fn)  :m=.134 
r(nk)=.587 

r(fm)=.848  r(fi)=.732 

r(fm)  :n=.675  r(fi)  :n=.451 

r(fb)=.801  r(fe)=.514 

r(fb)  :n=.592  r(fe)  :n=— .110 

r(mf)=.848  r(mk)=.700 

r(mf)  :n=.675  r(mk)  :n=.480 

r(mb)=.801  r(mi)=772 

r(mb)  :n=.541  r(mi)  :n=.475 

When  information  is  used  as  a  criterion  the  relationships 
with  the  other  qualities  remain  very  positive.  When  the  various 
qualities  are  successively  eliminated  from  the  financial  success- 
information  relation  that  relation  does  not  hold  its  own — man- 
agerial ability  and  business  capacity  causing  the  largest  results 
in  reducing  the  value  of  the  correlations.  Intelligence  also  enters 
strongly  into  the  combination  while  education  appears  as  of  little 
direct  value. 

Again  when  various  qualities  are  successively  eliminated 
from  the  information-managerial  relation  there  is  a  fairly  uni- 
form reduction  extending  in  the  case  of  the  elimination  of  busi- 
ness of  .318  points  to  .146  in  the  case  of  elimination  of  skills.23 

Further,  taking  information  successively  out  of  the  finance 
and  the  management  relationships  with  other  qualities,  it  is  seen 

23.  [r(mn)=772— r(mn)  :b=.454]=.318 

[r(mn)r=772— r(mn)  :k=.626]=.146 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         41 

to  affect  most  directly  finance-education  and  management-intel- 
ligence relationships  having  somewhat  less  effect  on  the  finance- 
management  relationship. 

From  the  above  data  we  may  conclude  that  technical  in- 
formation as  defined  on  page  8  has  an  important  place  in  good 

farming..     Nevertheless   there  are  latent 

Technical  informa-  suggestions  that  the  community  average 
t  i  o  n  undoubtedly  of  information  is  not  greatly  ex- 
h  a  s  a  n  important  ceeded  by  the  better  farmers  of  the  group, 
function  in  good  For  example  consider  the  correlation : 
farming.  r(fn)  :m=.134  and  r(fm)  :n=.67S,  which 

forces  us  back  again  to  the  managerial 

cause  as  being  fundamentally  vital.  The  suggestion  may  be 
dropped  at  this  time  that  the  determination  of  the  minimal,  func- 
tioning knowledge  may  probably  contribute  to  the  future  of 
secondary  agricultural  education  much  more  than  is  now  real- 
ized. 

The  fifth  characteristic  in  the  scale  as  indicated  on  page 
22  is  field  and  chore  skills.  The  following  lists  of  correla- 
tions will  help  to  an  understanding  of  the  importance  of  this 
quality. 

r(fk)=.677  r(mk)=.700  r(km)=.700 

r(fk)  :p=.618  r(mk)  :p=.648  r(kf)=.677 

r(fk)  :c=.548  r(mk)  :c=.556  r(kc)=.654 

r(fk)  :cp=.515  r(mk)  :n=.480  r(kb)=.654 

r(fk)  :i=.430  r(mk)  :i=.458  r(ki)=.606 

r(fk)  :m=.221  r(mk)  :ic=.414  r(kn)=.587 

r(fk)  :im=.197  r(kp)=.567 

r(kv)=.514 
,r(ke)=.414 

r(fm)=:.848  r(fp)=.354  r(fc)=.472 

r(fm)  :k=.714  r(fp)  :k=— .05  r(fc)  :k=.052 

The  elimination  of  management  from  the  financial  suc- 
cess-skill relationship  leaves  a  very  low  correlation.  Intelligence 
likewise  affects  the  combination  materially  and  the  elimination  of 
both  management  and  intelligence  still  further  reduces  the  value. 


42  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

Mechanical  ability  seems  to  contribute  to  the  relationship  but 
physical  capacity  adds  very  little  indeed. 

Successively  eliminating  physical  capacity,  mechanical 
ability,  information  and  intelligence  from  the  management-skill 
relationship  gradually  decreases  the  correlation  from  r(mk)— .700 
to  r(mk)  :i— .458.  Again  skills,  it  may  be  concluded,  depend 
largely  upon  native  intelligence. 

Using  skills  as  a  criterion,  management  ranks  highest  and 
education  lowest  but  the  spread  covers  only  .286  points. 

Taking  skills  out  of  certain  relationships  affects  the 
finance-mechanical  correlation  decidedly  more  than  the  finance- 
management  correlation.  This  suggests  again  the  discussion 
above  on  pages  25  &  26. 

Field  and  Chore  skills  contribute  directly  and  decidedly  to 
success  in  farming.  These  skills  are  very  largely  dependent  upon 
native  intelligence — a  fact  which  again  suggests  a  deeper,  study 

into  the  type  of  intelligence  for  it  may  be 

Field  and  chore  found  that  a  specialized  intelligence  is  the 
skills  contribute  di-  background  necessity  in  farm  success.  If 
rectly  toward  sue-  so,  the  next  step  would  be  clear — a  step 
cess.  involving  determinations  of  the  type  of 

intelligence  in  question,  followed  by  tests 
to  ascertain  its  absence  or  presence  in  the  individual. 

The  relation  of  education,  as  incidentally  developed  in  the 
preceding  section,  to  either  success  or  to  the  main  requisite  of 
success — managerial  ability — was  decidedly  disconcerting.  One 
might  be  tempted  to  conclude  from  the  data  studied  that  any  defi- 
nite amount  of  general  schooling  beyond  what  may  be  termed  as 
the  community  average  (one-room,  rural  school  type)  tends  to 
be  a  disadvantage. 

Without  attempting  at  this  point  to  make  a  case  either  for 
or  against  general  education,  let  us  study  some  of  the  correla- 
tions without  reference  to  the  finance  or  management  criteria. 

The  following  bear  directly  upon  the  educational  question  : 
r(ei)=732  r(ei)  :n=.356 

r(en)=.801  r(en)  :i=.567 

r(in)=.732  r(in)  :e=.356 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         43 

In  these  qualities  the  inter-relations  are  all  comparatively 
high.  The  elimination  of  possible  confusing  factors  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  general  education  is  of  greater  value  when  not  directly 
functioning  toward  financial  success.  The  partial  correlations, 
r(en)  :i=.567  and  r(ei)  :n—  .356,  suggest  that  those  of  highest 
native  (farm  type)  intelligence  may  not  be  most  directly  attract- 
ed to  education.24 

Again  let  us  study  briefly  the  data  bearing  upon  the  re- 
lation of  education,  information  and  intelligence  to  business 
ability. 

r(ie)=.732  r(nb)=732  r(ib)  :n=.463 

r(in)=.732  r(ie)  :b=.527  r(eb)  :i=.124 

r(en)=.801  r(in)  :b=.403  r(nb)  :i=.403 

r(ib)=752  r(en)  :b=.659  r(nb)  :e=.520 

r(eb)—  606  r(ib)  :e=.568  r(eb)  :n=. 


Information  and  native  intelligence  again  lead  education  in 

spite  of  the  fact  that  intelligence  bears  the  same  relation  both 

to   information    and   to    education.      The 

General  education  business  element  seems  also  to  affect  the 
as  usually  under-  intelligence-education  more  than  the  intel- 
stood  in  rural  com-  ligence-information  relation.  The  intelli- 
munities  may  not  gence-business  relation  is  more  seriously 
have  any  special  at-  affected  by  eliminating  information  than 
traction  for  the  by  eliminating  education  —  r(ib)  :n=.463 
type  of  intelligence  r(ib)  :e=.568.  Again,  eliminating  the  in- 
that  seems  to  con-  tclligence  factor  from  the  education-busi- 
dition  success.  ness  relation  nearly  nullifies  that  correla- 

tion, while  the  same  elimination  reduces 

the  information-business  relation  from  .801  to  .403.  Information 
is  important  in  buying  and  selling,  etc.,  but  it  is  information 
strongly  backed  or  conditioned  by  native  intelligence. 

Finally  let  us  use  the  broader  criterion  of  community  value 
in  the  consideration  of  these  mental  values: 

24.     The  possibility  of  various  types  of  intelligence  should 
be  kept  in  mind. 


44  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

r(vi)=:709  r(ve)  :i=.281 

r(ve)=.654  r(vn)  :e=.386 

r(vn)=.700  r(ve)  :n=.217 

r(vi)  :e=.443  r(vn)  :i=.376 

General  education  again  fails  to  take  precedence.  Intelli- 
gence and  information  factors  distinguish  the  man  of  largest 
place  in  the  life  of  the  community  as  well  as  the  man  foremost  in 
financial  success. 

Educational  Implications. 

This  study  is  based  primarily  upon  the  assumption  that  ob- 
jective analyses  of  an  industry  help  to  give  the  best  basis  for  de- 
vising training  plans  for  the  workers  in 

Objective  analyses  that  industry.  Moreover  it  attempts  to 
of  industries  may  get  back  of  the  mere  facts  and  skills  used 
be  used  as  bases  of  in  working  processes  and  discover,  if  pos- 
curricula.  sible,  the  qualities,  characteristics,  etc., 

that  function  most  directly  and  satisfac- 
torily. It  is  believed  that  the  discovery  and  statement  of  these 
will  lay  the  proper  foundation  upon  which  to  build  curricula  and 
training  plans. 

General  farming  and  the  agricultural  specialties  offer  fer- 
tile fields  for  such  objective  studies.  Conditions  and  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  procedure  in  these  occupations  are  compara- 
tively stable.  The  basic  skills  have  been  a  long  time  in  develop- 
ing. They  are  complex,  not  to  be  acquired  in  a  day,  and  there- 
fore do  not  tend  to  change  except  with  far-reaching  and  gradual 
social  changes.  These  skills,  together  with  their  allied  knowl- 
edges, usually  pass  from  father  to  son  because  of  the  farm-home- 
job  nature  of  the  occupation  and  this  transmission  takes  years  to 
effect.  Because  of  this  very  conservative  nature  of  the  industry, 
the  characteristics  of  the  men  in  it  have  become  more  settled  and 
more  evident.  When  once  discovered  they  will  stay  discovered 
and  delimited,  whereas  in  many  other  lines  the  study  of  today, 
although  giving  valuable  results  for  present  conditions,  may  only 
have  permanent  value  in  giving  a  method  of  analysis  for  succeed- 
ing phases  in  the  development  of  the  industry.  The  very  di- 
versity, complexity,  and  stability  of  the  occupation  requiring  for 


HI'RAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  45 

the  general  farmer  abilities  as  a  worker,  as  a  business  man,  and 
as  a  manager  challenge  the  educationalist.  They  challenge  him 
to  analyze  the  man,  not  only  to  lay  bases  for  training  plans  and 
principles,  but  to  make  sure  that  the  training  when  properly  de- 
vised will  not  be  wasted  upon  boys  who  may  never  be  able  to 
function  successfully  in  such  a  complex  field. 

If  conclusions  from  this  study  may  be  accepted,  the  gen- 
eral farmer,  to  be  successful,  should  have  qualities  somewhat  as 
follows : 

The  qualities,  char-  1.     He  should  have  slightly  more, 

acteristics,    etc.,    of  at  least,  than  the  average  physical  ability 

the  successful  gen-  of  the  community.     His  strength  and  en- 

eral  farmer  may  be  durance  need  not  be  extraordinary,  but  he 

listed.  cannot  be  a  weakling. 

2.     He  has  a  certain  advantage  if 

endowed  with  some  generalized  mechanical  ability,  but  if  too 
highly  developed  and  specialized,  it  probably  works  against, 
rather  than  with,  certain  other  necessary  qualities. 

3.  He  must  be  possessed  of  some  considerable  amount  of 
technical    information — working   facts   available   for   quick   and 
easy  application. 

4.  He  needs  to  have  a  fund  of  rather  definite,  specialized 
farm  skills,  like  pitching  hay  and  bundles  to  advantage,  shoulder- 
ing sacks  of  grain  with  ease  and  harnessing  and  handling  two, 
four  or  six-horse  teams  quickly  and  effectively. 

5.  He  is  coming  to  be  a  business  man  able  to  meet  neigh- 
bors and  townsmen  in  transactions  that  do  not  leave  him  behind 
in  the  game.     In  connection  with  or  supplementary  to  this  buy- 
ing and  selling  characteristic,  he  needs  certain  abilities  in  keep- 
ing records  and  accounts,  giving  him  a  basis  for  determining 
costs,  profits,  etc. 

6.  Fundamentally   he   must  be  a   manager.     Herein  he 
approximates  the  industrial  manager  more  than  the  industrial 
worker,  differing  chiefly,  perhaps,  in  the  fact  that  he  deals  rela- 
tively more  with  things  and  less  with  men. 


46  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

7.  Finally,  so  far  as  this  study  has  data  to  determine,  he 
must  have  a  high  degree  of  native  intelligence — an  intelligence 
probably  more  or  less  specialized,  directly  conditioning  his 
skills,  his  ability  to  "pick  up"  technical  information  and  his  man- 
agerial power.25 

The  range  covered  illustrates  the  possibilities  of  the  meth- 
od of  the  study  and  it  gives  a  real  basis  for  certain  conclusions  of 
value  in  the  field  of  secondary  agricultural  instruction. 

Of  the  seven  statements  given  above  every  one  seems  to  be 

dependent  upon  characteristics  or  qualities  that  must  be  in  the 

original   make-up   of  the   man.     Physical 

The  original  make-  endurance  may  sometimes  develop  out  of 
up  of  the  man  seemingly  poor  beginnings,  but  on  the 
needs  consideration  average,  at  least,  successful  farmers  must 
in  secondary  agri-  be  able  to  do  average  days'  farm  work 
cultural  education.  which  most  certainly  require  some  con- 
siderable fund  of  vitality.  Facts  may  be 

acquired,  learned,  but  farm  facts  have  to  be  working  information, 
often  available  on  a  moment's  notice  and  adaptable  to  many  vary- 
ing conditions  of  wind,  weather,  soil  and  society.  Undoubtedly  a 
high  type  of  intelligence,  more  or  less  specialized  and  not  to  be 
gratuitously  developed  in  all  who  come,  is  basic  in  acquiring  and 
using  these  working  facts  or  knowledges. 

Field  and  chore  skills  are  learned.  Nevertheless  some  men 
never  acquire  them  though  they  remain  on  farms  all  their  lives. 
Others  seem  not  to  need  even  to  learn  them ;  they  come  so  nat- 
urally. This  is  due  to  original,  inherent  differences  in  the  indi- 

25.  Doubtless  other  qualities  of  great  value,  or  further 
breakup  of  the  ones  listed,  could  be  determined,  but  the  ones 
chosen  are  major  and  cover  as  wide  a  range  as  it  was  thought 
possible  to  include  within  the  limitations  of  this  study.  The 
ratings  together  with  the  explanations  covered  an  entire  class 
period  in  every  institution  visited.  It  would  have  been  inadvis- 
able to  try  to  get  further  material  at  this  time  and  in  this  man- 
ner. Seminar  groups  and  master  degree  students  can  well  con- 
sider further  studies  looking  to  a  wider  range  or  a  greater  break- 
up of  characteristics.  The  writer  will  be  glad  to  make  sugges- 
tions for  such  studies. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         47 

viduals.  Since  such  differences  are  continuous  and  are  found  in 
all  stages,  some  people  with  lesser  native  capacities  may  acquire, 
under  adequate  tuition,  considerable  facility  in  these  lines.  It  is 
probable  that,  on  the  whole,  the  highly  skilled  father  will  be  the 
best  trainer  of  his  boy,  especially  if  that  boy  inherits  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree  his  father's  native  capacities,  but  all  boys  are  not 
thus  fortunate.  Skills  can  be  induced  often  under  very  untoward 
conditions.  Here  the  schools  must  enter  and  supplement  or  sup- 
plant the  inadequacies  of  the  home  unit — an  interesting  and  most 
valuable  field  for  further  investigation.28 

Again  good  business  principles  can  be  taught,  and  buying 
and  selling,  accounting,  can  be  improved  in  nearly  all  grades  and 
types  of  intelligence.  Undoubtedly  this  characteristic  has  more 
elements  in  common  with  business  ability  in  other  industries 
than  the  remaining  characteristics  listed.  It  is,  moreover,  prob- 
able that  the  average  farmer  needs  a  higher  type  of  business 
acumen  (covering  cost  finding  in  addition  to  buying,  selling, 
etc.)  than  does  the  average  worker  in  any  other  industry  and 
possibly  more  than  many  so-called  average  business  men. 

Of  all  the  characteristics,  it  is  profitable  to  repeat,  man- 
agerial ability  stands  first.  It  is  less  affected  by  confusing  ele- 
ments and  therefore  tends  to  be  definite.  It  is  directly  condi- 
tioned by  intelligence  and  therefore  it  may  be  classed  as  strongly 
inherent.  It  can  be  improved,  trained,  but  only  to  advantage 
when  the  person  in  training  has  the  requisite  mental  type  and 
power  to  benefit  from  the  peculiar  training  needed. 

Is  nature  all  important  in  the  above  characteristics?  Is 
it  the  thing  first  to  be  considered?  It  is  very  important  and  will 
continue  to  be  an  increasingly  important  factor,  more  and  more 
to  be  considered  as  farming  develops  in  complexity  and  as  com- 
petition in  production  grows.  Nature  will  take  a  larger  and 
larger  part  of  the  consideration  unless  big  scale  production  be- 

26.  This  study  can  not  go  into  the  field  of  individual  case 
study,  working  out  from  the  experience  and  knowledge  already 
possessed  by  the  boy.  It  is,  however,  a  field  of  vital  value  and 

interest. 


48  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

comes  the  order  accompanied  by  the  decline  of  the  quarter-sec- 
tion farm  type.27  Nature  is  of  fundamental  importance  in  the 
farming  occupation.  In  this  fact  there  may  be  some  basis  for  the 
age-long  prejudice  of  the  farmer  against  "book-farming"  or  the 
advice  of  outsiders,  be  they  college  experts,  agricultural  teachers, 
board  of  trade  members,  bankers,  or  what  not.  If  so,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  and  the  re-directing  of  our  plans  in  accordance 
with  right  principles  may  do  more  to  further  proper  agricultural 
education  than  is  now  supposed.28  Nature  will  be  of  supreme 

importance  in  the  future  properly  diversi- 

When  competition  fied,  privately  or  co-operatively  owned, 
becomes  intense  in  intensive  farm  unit.  Moreover,  nothing 
agriculture,  "  n  a-  will  do  more  to  promote  such  an  ideal 
ture"  will  be  of  su-  state  than  an  agricultural  education 
preme  importance.  which  adequately  trains  selected  groups 

for  types  of  work  for  which  nature  has 

best  fitted  them.  But  this  is  vocational  guidance !  Agricultural 
leaders  will  be  the  last  to  consent  to  any  Prussian  system  of  de- 
termination which  assigns  a  child  to  a  particular  line  of  life 
work.  And  rightly  so,  for  vocational  guidance  of  this  kind  should 
be  smothered  in  its  beginnings. 

Vocational  direction  and  advice  are  very  different  things 
from  vocational  determination  as  it  would  be  conceived  by  an 
industrial  or  political  autocrat.  They  are  best  illustrated  by  re- 
cent studies  in  educational  guidance.  Such  studies  are  trying  to 
discover  the  aptitudes  of  the  pupils  chiefly  for  the  pupils'  sakes. 
Incidentally  they  will  lay  the  best  possible  basis  for  the  studies 
of  the  industries  in  the  interests  of  both  the  pupils  and  the  indus- 
tries. Ultimately  it  will  be  the  finding  by  and  the  fitting  of  the 
child  for  his  best  place  in  society.  Vocational  direction  would 

27.  Big   scale  production   means   highly  trained  directors 
controlling  groups  of  laborers  and  making  use  of  specialists. 
Many  people,  however,  are  not  ready  to  concede  that  this  type 
of  rural  organization  is  either  advisable  or  generally  probable. 

28.  Agricultural  education  is  far  from  being  generally  ac- 
cepted amongst  farmers  today.     That  it  is  not  is  only  too  evi- 
dent to  those  who  have  daily  to  deal  with  the  man  on  the  job. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  49 

substitute  for  the  present  wasteful  and  chaotic  trial  and  error 
method,  scientific  advice  and  suggestion  based  upon  such  evi- 
dence  of   the   child's   native   capacity   as 

Vocational  d  i  r  c  c-  might  be  obtained  through  carefully  kept 
tion  must  be  both  school  records,  objective  ratings  by  suc- 
scicntific  and  hu-  cessive  teachers,  scientifically  devised 
man.  tests,  desires  of  parent  and  child,  etc.  Vo- 

cational direction,  in  a  word,  must  be  both 

scientific  and  human.  To  be  scientific  it  must  be  objective,  to 
be  human  it  must  focus  on  the  child  rather  than  on  the  industry. 
In  being  both  scientific  and  human,  we  have  faith  also  that  it 
will  be  really  and  fundamentally  social. 

This  matter  of  vocational  direction  is  a  field  in  itself — a 
field  of  tremendous  importance  as  well  as  of  interest.  Its  further 
study  is  urged  especially  in  agricultural  and  rural  education. 
The  need  is  great  in  this  field  because  many  people  (even  born 
and  living  to  maturity  in  the  country)  will  never  make  good 
farmers  and  should  have  been  directed  or  advised  toward  vil- 
lage or  city  industries  or  professions  where  both  their  compe- 
tence and  happiness  might  have  bren  fully  assured.  Secondly, 
the  need  is  great  because  the  social  and  economic  organization  in 
the  country  lacks  variety  and  opportunities  for  contact  or  ex- 
perience.29 The  city  boy  has  a  wonderful  chance  for  trial  and 
error,  wasteful  as  that  method  may  be.  The  country  boy  on  the 
contrary  is  significantly  limited  when  it  comes  to  trying  out  or 
even  observing  other  than  one  or  two  kinds  of  farming  and  a  few 
closely  allied  types  of  work.  And,  finally,  the  need  is  great  agri- 
culturally, because  some  means  should  be  found  to  select  out 
and  provide  possible  trial  opportunities  for  hundreds,  perhaps 
thousands,  of  city  youths  who  may  have  every  requisite  for  suc- 
cess in  farming,  including  mental  and  physical  abilities,  adequate 
capital,  and  the  proper  personal  desire  or  interest. 

But  vocational  direction,  important  as  it  may  become,  is 
only  one  part  of  the  great  problem.  Given  the  boy  with  the 
proper  desires  and  characteristics,  how  shall  he  be  trained  to 

29.     Rural  Education  (The  Objectives  and  Needs  of  Rural 
Elementary  Education).    W.  C.  Brim.    Macmillan  Company. 


50  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

make  a  greater  success  of  what  he  would  tend  to  succeed  in  re- 
gardless of  formal  school  or  vocational  training? 

The  Training  of  the  Boy. 

Any  possible  deductions  from  the  present  study,  of  course, 
will  be  limited  to  the  field  of  general  farming  as  investigated.80 
Repeated  emphasis  has  been  given  to  the  importance  of  the  man- 
agerial aspect  of  farm  success.  In  discussing  this  question 
from  the  training  viewpoint  the  writer  wishes  to  urge 
that  a  new  approach  may  be  advisable — a  possible  approach  to 
the  secondary  agricultural  education  question  in  general  farming 
through  the  avenue  of  management.  Management  involves  con- 
trol— control,  in  this  case,  of  such  factors 

The  best  training  as  crops  and  cropping,  hand,  team  and 
approach  may  be  power  labor,  invested  and  operating  capi- 
through  manage-  tal — control  that  intensifies  here,  extends 
ment.  elsewhere,  applies  cost  methods  when 

needed — control  in  changing  plans  to  meet 

emergencies  in  weather,  markets,  or  what  not.  Manage- 
ment requires  objectivity — an  outside  viewpoint.  The  engineer 
is  outside  the  machine.  He  comes  to  it  and  goes  from  it.  He 
gets  away  from  it  at  night,  for  the  week  end,  or  possibly  for  the 
season.31  So  far  agricultural  teaching  has  tended  to  lose  sight  of 
the  inclusive  nature  of  managerial  success.  Courses  in  soils,  in 
crops,  in  breeds  and  breeding,  have  emphasized  the  break-up  and 

30.  It  is  hoped  that,  since  the  field  is  opened  up,  future 
studies  will   not  only   consider  specialties  like  poultry  raising, 
fruit  growing,  etc.,  but  will  subject  general  farming  to  much 
more  detailed  analyses.    The  conclusions  drawn  seem  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  evidence  at  hand  for  general  farming   (dairying 
and  allied  crops)  in  New  York  State  as  well  as  general  farming 
(corn,  wheat,  stock,  etc.)  in  Ohio  or  Kansas. 

31.  It  is  suggested  that  the  very  nature  of  the  present  or- 
ganization of  the  farm  tends  to  prevent  this  viewpoint.       The 
farmer  is  born,  brought  up,  eats,  sleeps,  has  his  whole  life-long 
being  within   his  job — sometimes  under  it,  if  the  mortgage  is 
heavy.    Under  such  circumstances,  only  the  exceptional  man  can 
get  the  inclusive,  objective  viewpoint  of  his  farm  as  a  machine 
and  a  job. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         51 

promoted  specialized  interests  long  before  the  inclusive  view  is 
attempted.32 

Perhaps  a  reference  and  an  illustration  will  help  to  enforce 
the  viewpoint  of  this  discussion.  "Professor  Mann  would  com- 
bine theory  with  practice  much  more  intimately  than  occurs  in 
the  law  schools  of  the  present  day  by  requiring  the  student  to 
learn  to  operate  the  'case'  under  study.  The  student  must  not 
merely  observe  and  analyze  the  operation  of  the  dynamo:  he 
must  actually  run  it  and  repair  it  when  out  of  order."33  Add  to 
this  reference  the  following  illustration  :  A  boy  happens  to  come 
upon  a  man  (perhaps  a  teacher)  who  is  observing  a  small  gaso- 
line engine,  evidently  his  own  and  with  which  he  is  very  familiar. 
The  boy's  interest  causes  the  man  to  start  the  engine  and  operate 
it  for  a  few  minutes.  Later  he  and  the  boy  (or  the  boy  and  he) 
start  it,  operate  it,  take  it  apart,  discover  its  secrets  and  prin- 
ciples of  construction  and  working,  assemble  it,  start  it  again,  re- 
pair it  when  necessary,  etc.,  until  the  boy  knows  that  little  engine 
from  a  to  z.  In  this  "case"  there  is,  first,  the  whole,  the  inclu- 
sive, the  objective  view  of  a  machine.  Secondly,  there  is  the  in- 
vestigation into  its  make-up  and  into  the  "how"  and  "why"  of  its 
working.  Thirdly,  there  is  the  re-assembling  and  the  re-operat- 
ing of  the  whole  machine.  There  is  understanding  and  control  of 
an  outside,  objective  whole.  The  parts  are  known  but  entirely  in 
their  relation  to  the  whole  machine  and  its  functioning.  The 
farm  home  and  the  farm  machine  have  been  confused.  Man- 


32.  College   courses   in    farm    management    naturally   and 
rightly  are  given  after  the  technical  courses  are  well  under  way 
or  completed.     The  writer  does  not  wish  to  get  into  a  contro- 
versy on  the  subject  of  the  collegiate  curriculum,  much  as  it 
needs  attention.     He  does,  however,  object  strenuously  to  the 
policy  of  secondary  schools  following  the  same  plan  of  courses 
in  training  boys  for  farming.     He  is  wondering  if  courses  in 
"managing  a  farm"  may  not  be  devised,  using  as  a  basis  this 
principle  of  objectivity. 

33.  Preface  to   "A   Study   of  Engineering   Education"  by 
Charles  R.  Mann,  Bulletin  No.  11,  Carneigie  Foundation  for  the 
Advancement  of  Teaching." 


52  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

agerial  control  can  best  be  asserted  when  the  operator  gets  out- 
side or  on  top  of  his  working  plant  instead  of  being  hopelessly 
mixed  up  within  or  under  the  works. 

If  the  writer  is  not  mistaken,  this  objective  study  and  control 
is  the  essence  of  good  management  and, if  so, may  it  not  be  applied 

to  the  farm  working  unit  and  to  the  teach- 

Objective  control  ing  of  the  operation  of  that  unit?  This 
seems  to  be  the  es-  viewpoint,  however,  is  so  largely  based 
sence  of  good  man-  upon  opinion  and  this  study  is  attempting 
agement.  to  break  away  from  subjective  prejudice, 

that  the  idea  will  not  be  urged  but  will  be 
left  to  propagate  itself  if  it  have  the  necessary  worth  and  vitality. 

An  essential  tool  of  the  farm  manager  is  the  fund  of  tech- 
nical information  that  he  has  at  hand  for  ready  use.    And  it  is 
the  teaching  of  this  that  tends  to  get  us  back  onto  tried  and  sure 
ground.    We  feel  more  certain  when  it  comes  to  getting  ideas  or 
facts  across  to  the  boy.     Because  of  this 

Technical  informa-  we  are  prone  to  make  the  class  room  im- 
tion  is  an  important  partation  of  the  facts  the  whole  point  of 
tool  of  good  man-  our  training.  The  writer  feels,  however, 
agement.  that  he  must  urge  the  necessity  of  train- 

ing the  boy  managerially.     The  facts  or 

information  are  to  be  considered  only  as  factors  of  the  larger 
problem — tools  of  the  job — of  value  only  as  they  function  in  the 
control  of  the  outside,  objective  machine  that  is  working  to  pro- 
duce crops,  stock,  etc.34 

If  we  are  to  consider  the  agricultural  information  as  a 
tool — a  supplement  to  the  larger  managerial  power — the  problem 
of  finding  the  facts  that  really  function  and  organizing  them  into 

34.  Two  kinds  of  facts  or  information  should  be  distin- 
guished— those  common,  daily  used  facts  possessed  by  the  bet- 
ter farmers  and  those  special  informations  more  often  possessed 
by  the  expert  to  be  given  out  as  advice  in  difficult  or  danger- 
ous situations.  It  may  be  more  important  in  training  the  future 
farmer  to  develop  in  him  a  respect  for  the  expert  and  an  ability 
to  find  the  expert  rather  than  the  quack,  than  to  train  him  in 
the  expertness  that  he  will  use  too  seldom  to  keep  him  in  prac- 
tice. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION  53 

proper  teaching  units  becomes  the  important  thing.  As  was  sug- 
gested in  the  first  part  of  this  report,  the  study  of  this  phase  was 
temporarily  abandoned  for  the  determination  of  the  essential 
characteristics  of  the  successful  farmer.  The  proof  of  the  impor- 
tance of  technical  information  in  farming  justifies  a  return  to  its 
consideration  and  to  further  pursuit  of  its  study.  It  is  here  that 
the  principle  of  minimal  essentials  becomes  so  helpful.  The  pres- 
ent plan  includes  the  following  procedure: 

The  usually  taught  facts  and  principles  in  a  limited  field 
are  listed  in  the  form  of  simple,  concrete  statements.  Duplica- 
tions are  eliminated  and  the  list  reduced  to  as  low  proportions  as 
possible,  yet  suggesting  all  of  the  material.  This  material  is  fin- 
ally printed  in  such  form  as  to  permit  the  rating  of  each  item. 
It  is  evident  that  each  item  may  be  useful  or  not  useful  in  pro- 
moting production.  Five  grades  of  value  may  be  assigned  and  a 
figure  1,  2,  3,  4  or  5  placed  after  each  item  to  indicate  the  value  as 
considered  by  the  person  making  the  rating.  Number  1  would 
indicate  that  the  item  was  essential  and  could  not  be  dispensed 
with  without  serious  loss  in  production.  Number  5  would  indi- 
cate that  the  item  was  never  used  and  could  or  should  be  dis- 
pensed with.  Other  numbers,  2,  3,  or  4,  would  indicate  inter- 
mediate or  relative  values.  Such  report  blanks  will  be  sent  to 
large  numbers  of  men  in  actual  farming  who  are  familiar  with 
the  technical  terms  necessarily  employed.  The  idea  is  to  get  an 
objective  concensus  of  actual  use  of  the  facts  in  their  relation  to 
production.  The  central  tendencies  for  each  item  will  reveal  their 
values  and  at  the  same  time  show  in  skeleton  outline  the  general 
principles  around  which  they  will  best  be  organized.35 


35.  As  a  beginning  in  this  method  of  determination  of  mini- 
mal essentials,  mailing  lists  from  several  states  are  being  ob- 
tained and  the  analysis  of  market  milk  dairying  has  been  begun. 


54  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

Such  bodies  of  minimal  essential,  working,  organized  facts 
will  be  of  untold  service  to  the  teacher-trainer,  the  teacher,  the 

the  supervisor  and  the  student  himself.  As 

Minimal  essential  it  is,  the  field  is  so  large  and  the  interest 
determinatitons  are  element  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  to- 
of  great  value  in  gether  with  the  tendency  to  follow  beaten 
secondary  agricul-  paths  and  lines  of  least  resistance,  is  so 
tural  education.  great  that  often  the  materials  used  and 

methods  chosen  fail  to  function  toward 

clearly  defined  objective  results.  Moreover,  many  minds  do  not 
have  the  faculty  for  going  to  the  heart  of  a  subject  and  discard- 
ing the  more  or  less  useless,  or  for  organizing  elements  according 
to  their  relative  values.  As  a  time  saver  what  would  serve  more 
directly  and  effectively?36  As  a  standard  of  accomplishment, 
what  would  give  a  better  measure?  As  a  working  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  man  responsible  for  production  on  the  farm,  what 
would  be  more  effective? 

For  some  time  manual  training  of  the  indiscriminate  type 
has  been  subjected  to  severe  criticism.  The  results  of  this  study 

certainly  add  force  to  that  criticism.  The 

Minimal  essential  application  of  the  principles  of  objective 
studies  are  also  determination  and  minimal  essentials 
necessary  in  the  seem  to  offer  a  way  of  finding  out  just 
mechanical  aspects  what  should  be  taught  in  the  mechanical 
of  the  work.  as  opposed  to  the  farm  skills'  phase.  Unit 

courses  in  gas  engines,  as  indicated  in  the 

illustration  given,  in  overhauling  farm  machinery,  and  in  the  se- 
lection and  care  of  the  few  mechanics'  tools  that  should  be  a  part 
of  the  equipment  of  every  farmer  are  evidently  valuable  and  in- 
teresting types  of  work  that  may  be  carried  on  without  special 
laboratory  facilities. 

36.  When  it  is  remembered  that  many  boys  have  only  one 
or  two  winters  of  a  few  months  each  to  devote  full  time  to 
school  attendance  and  further  when  it  is  remembered  that  even 
the  four-year  high  school  can  legitimately  devote  one-half  or 
less  of  the  time  to  vocational  training,  the  time  element  becomes 
of  special  importance. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         55 

The  field  and  chore  skills  section  of  the  boy's  training  as  a 

future  farmer  is  so  important  as  to  require  special  emphasis.    The 

tendency  is  to  assume  that  he  has  and  is 

Field  and  chore  obtaining  such  training  on  the  home  farm 
skills  have  never  and  since  no  one  knows  how  to  go  about 
been  listed  and  planning  and  organizing  courses  to  teach 
studied.  these  skills  the  work  is  ignored.  Tech- 

nical information  and  field  and  chore  skills 

are  the  two  most  effective  tools  of  the  good  farm  manager.  So 
far  as  the  writer  knows  no  one  has  ever  attempted  to  study  or 
list  farm  skills.  An  inventory  of  these  would  be  a  good  introduc- 
tion to  such  a  study.  Carefully  prepared  descriptions  of  the  best 
practice  could  follow.37  Since  the  boy  is  constantly  engaged  in 
skill  use  and  practice  at  home,  it  may  be  that  the  teacher  or  the 
school  can  function  most  directly  from  the  description  and  criti- 
cism standpoints.  The  farm  boy  probably  comes  to  his  agricul- 
tural training  with  more  field  and  chore  skills  well  developed 
than  with  any  other  phase  of  his  training  start.  Special  abilities 
should  be  recognized ;  deficiencies  should  be  checked  up. 

A  further  field  for  graduate  student  investigational  work 
lies  in  the  business  aspects  of  the  boy's  training.    The  farm  man- 
agement people  have  done  most  excellent 

Success  in  modern  service  in  devising  record,  accounting  and 
agricultural  pro-  cost  finding  schemes.  Possible  unit 
duction  is  demand-  courses  should  be  worked  out  from  such 
ing  more  and  more  data.  In  connection  with  this,  principles 
business  ability.  of  buying  and  selling  should  be  drawn  on 

as  developed  in  the  merchandizing  courses 
and  purchasing  agent  work. 

37.  Here  again  is  an  excellent  opportunity  for  graduate 
study  and  the  possibilities  of  a  scientific  measuring  scale  of  skill 
ability  are  very  great. 


56  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

It  is  hoped  that  enough  has  been  said  to  enforce  the  view- 
point of  this  study,  namely;  the  necessity  for  objective  analyses 
of  the  men  and  the  job  as  bases  for  curri- 

The  work  outlined  culum-making  and  teacher-training.  The 
demands  analyses  of  field  is  really  four-fold  and  covers  not 
the  man,  the  job,  the  only  the  necessity  for  men-and  job- 
field  and  the  boy.  analyses  but  also  field-and  boy-an- 
alyses. The  field-analyses  involve  the 

standardization  of  methods  for  local  study  so  that  the  teaching 
will  function  directly  toward  the  type  of  agriculture  of  the 
community.  The  boy-analyses  are  the  natural  complements  of 
the  man-analyses,  laying  the  basis  for  real  vocational  direction 
and  advisement  as  well  as  proper  methods  of  training.  Objective 
studies  provide  a  sensible  and  scientific  method  of  getting  away 
from  the  tryanny  of  opinion  and  tradition  and  this  study  will 
be  of  value,  not  because  of  the  number  of  principles  it  may  de- 
velop but  because  of  the  field  it  opens  up  and  the  future  studies 
to  which  it  may  lead. 

Considerations. 

1.  The  basis  for  curriculum-making  and  procedure  in  it 
should  grow  out  of  objective  studies  of  the  job  and  of  the  people 
functioning  in  that  job. 

2.  There  seems  to  be  a  more  or  less  specialized  type  of 
farm  intelligence  which  needs  delimitation  and  study  as  a  basis 
for  vocational  direction  and  vocational  training  plans. 

3.  Training  for  a  job,  especially  such  a  complex  one  as 
general  farming  needs  an  objectifi cation  of  that  job  which  pre- 
supposes both  an  inclusive  and  an  outside  view. 

4.  Training  in  the  details  of  a  job  should  consider  those 
details  or  factors  constantly  from  the  standpoint  of  their  inter- 
relations and  their  sub-relations  to  the  job  itself. 

5.  Vocational  education  is  not  necessarily  bound  up  hand 
and  foot  in  general  education — indeed  this  study  would  seem  to 
indicate  a  clear  severance  of  the  two.     General  education  does 
not  appear  to  function  directly    toward  vocational    efficiency. 
This  may  mean  that  the  ideals  of  education  as  actually  carried 
out  tend  to  attract  a  type  of  intelligence  that  is  not  best  suited 
to  agricultural  productivity. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         57 

6.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  society  demands  more  of  iti 
members  than  vocational  competence  to  insure  its  progressive 
development,  general  education  in  some  form  or  other  is  neces- 
sary.    A  general  education,  therefore,  that  is  not  unattractive 
to  the  specialized  intelligence  needed  in  agricultural  work  would 
seem  to  be  the  requirement.     Such  an  education,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  writer,  should  do  at  least  two  things  : 

(a)  Give  a  sufficient  basis  in  English,  Mathematics,  Gen- 
eral Science  and  Social  Science  to  prepare  the  student  to  under- 
stand the  later  vocational  training  and  work. 

(b)  Prepare  for  adequate  citizenship  and  social  function- 
ing. 

7.  In  order  to  obtain  time  for  this  needed  general  educa- 
tion, two  things  are  necessary : 

(a)  Longer  period  in  school. 

(b)  Higher  efficiency  in  the  vocational  training  field. 

Note :  Such  training  or  education  must  not  be  either  ultra- 
cultral  or  ultra-practical.  The  needs  of  both  the  abstract  or  lit- 
erary type  of  intelligence  and  the  work-a-day,  managerial,  con- 
crete type  must  be  recognized. 

8.  General   education  and  vocational   education  for  the 
present,  at  least,  should  progress  more  or  less  separately,  each 
studying  its  respective  field  objectively,  determining  its  function- 
ing essentials,  but  co-operating  at  every  turn.    Each  must  realize 
its  dependence  upon  the  other ;  neither  can  go  far  alone. 

9.  The  following  topics  are  suggested  for  seminar  and 
graduate  study: 

(a)  Fundamental   characteristics  of  both  the   man  and 
the  job  in  various  lines  of  agricultural  production. 

(b)  Minimal  essentials  in  all  of  the  fields  or  specialties. 

(c)  Tests  to  determine  innate  characteristics  for  rural 
boys. 

(d)  Pre-requisite,    foundational,    explorative    work    for 
junior  high  school  courses. 


58  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

(e)  Study  of  the  business  essentials  in  general  farming. 

(f)  Managerial  rating  sheets  or  score  cards. 

(g)  Scales  for  measuring  skills,  managerial  ability,  etc. 

(h)  Use  of  case,  unit,  project,  problem  and  other  meth- 
ods in  various  aspects  of  the  instruction  work. 

(i)  Standard  record  cards  for  grades  and  junior  high 
schools  for  vocational  direction  data. 

The  Reliability  of  the  Data. 

So  far  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  ratings  as  given  on 
the  various  Form  B's  (the  original  data  of  the  study)  were  al- 
ways correct.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 

The method  of  rank-  ever,  it  is  probable  that  there  are  many 
ing  individuals  for  misplacements  of  men  in  the  groups.  If  it 
certain  qualities  or  had  been  possible  to  obtain  four,  five  or 
characteristics  may  six  separate  student  ratings  on  each 
be  open  to  question  group  it  is  probable  that  there  would  have 
as  to  its  reliability.  been  differences  more  or  less  marked. 
Moreover,  the  ability  of  students  to  act  as 

judges  may  be  questioned.  It  may  be  very  legitimately  con- 
tended that  the  only  way  to  tell  how  thirteen  farmers  should  be 
arranged  in  order  of  financial  success  from  best  to  poorest  would 
be  on  the  basis  of  information  obtainable  by  the  usual  farm  man- 
agement survey  methods.  Even  this  could  be  criticised  and  is 
being  criticised,  especially  if  the  criterion  used  be  the  labor  in- 
come criterion,  which  has  been  the  basis  for  most  surveys  so 
far  undertaken. 

But,  granting  the  validity  of  the  labor  income  criterion, 
what  would  be  the  possibility  of  its  use  in  such  a  study  as  this? 
At  first  plans  were  made  to  tie  up  the  determination  of  the  char- 
acteristics and  qualities  desired  to  the  groups  of  farmers  in  vari- 
ous states  who  had  been  subjected  to  labor  income  surveys  by 
the  usual  farm  management  methods.  With  random  selections 
from  such  lists  it  was  hoped  to  have  several  different  judges 
(county  agent,  banker,  high  school  agriculturist  and  others) 
rank  the  same  group  and  from  these  data  obtain  the  desired 
correlations.  But  this  was  found  to  be  an  almost  impossible 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         59 

task.  Moreover,  the  number  of  groups  to  be  rated  would  be  so 
limited  that  local  variations  would  be  a  serious  factor,  making  it 
inadvisable  to  draw  generalized  conclusions  from  the  data  ob- 
tainable. Finally,  after  repeated  try-outs  which  tended  to  show 
certain  constant  results  in  spite  of  possible  imperfections  the 
method  used  in  the  study  was  decided  upon  and  pursued  in  as 
guarded  a  way  as  possible. 

In  general,  racings  by  these  men  may  be  defended  from 

the  following  standpoints :    To  begin  with  each  man  stated  that 

the  farmers  in  his  group  were  well  known 

Students  from  farm  to  him.  In  fact,  in  the  great  majority  of 
communities  are  pe-  the  cases  they  were  men  of  his  home  com- 
culiarly  fitted  to  munity  onto  whose  farms  and  into  whose 
provide  the  desired  homes  he  had  repeatedly  gone.  Only  a 
ratings.  person  who  has  grown  up  in  such  an  en- 

vironment   can  realize    how    fully  these 

qualities  and  characteristics  are  known  and  discussed  by  all  of 
the  members  of  the  community.  It  is  this  very  intimate  com- 
mon knowledge  of  the  financial  and  other  affairs  of  the  neigh- 
borhood that  is  used  as  a  basis  for  loans  in  some  of  the  co-op- 
erative enterprises  that  have  grown  up.  "Change  of  work",  for 
example,  has  brought  families  into  close  contact  with  each  oth- 
er's skills,  physical  capacities,  personalities,  etc.  Moreover,  the 
students  making  the  rankings  are  as  a  class  a  selected  group  of 
the  finest  young  men,  endowed  with  keen  observation  and  judg- 
ing powers.  Of  this,  the  writer  was  often  reminded  in  the  brief 
discussions  that  followed  the  exercise.  Very  few  of  the  men 
seriously  questioned  their  ability  to  place  the  upper  and  lower 
two-thirds  of  the  groups.  Sometimes  they  were  less  sure  about 
the  order  of  those  who  were  finally  numbered  6,  7  or  8.  But 
the  misplacement  of  these  men  one,  two  or  three  places  would 
tend  to  effect  the  final  value  of  the  coefficient  very  little  indeed 
as  may  be  learned  by  working  out  various  trial  orders.  A  some- 
what significant  reaction  to  the  method  came  from  the  instruc- 
tors or  professors.  An  attempt  was  made  to  get  ratings  by  mail 
from  a  number  of  schools.  To  this,  in  general,  a  poor  response 
was  obtained.  A  few  did  not  answer  at  all,  others  did  not  have 
the  right  type  of  students  or  the  special  opportunity  and  a  few 


60  BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 

answered  frankly  stating  their  skepticism  of  the  proposed  meth- 
od.   On  the  other  hand  no  institution  was 

Many  instructors  found  in  which  the  ratings  were  taken  by 
and  professors  on  the  writer  in  person  where  the  professors 
understanding  the  and  instructors  in  charge  were  not  keenly 
problems  and  the  interested  and  evidently  sympathetic  with 
method  became  the  method  and  the  possible  value  of  the 
keenly  interested.  results.  Many  of  these  men  voluntarily 

took  part  in  the  exercise,  submitting  their 
reports  with  those  of  the  cless. 

It  is  probable  that  most  of  the  errors  are  of  a  kind  that 
would  tend  to  balance  each  other  and,  therefore,  have  little  ef- 
fect on  the  final  value  of  the  coefficients. 

Most  of  the  errors  There  are,  however,  undoubtedly  two 
were  probably  of  a  kinds  of  constant  errors  that  should  be 
kind  to  offset  each  noted.  One  is  what  may  be  known  as  the 
other  thereby  caus-  "halo."38  This  in  a  few  words  is  a  tend- 
ing little  effect  on  ency  on  the  part  of  judges  to  ascribe 
the  finally  accepted  higher  values  than  should  be  in  all  quali- 
values.  ties  to  certain  men  because  of  their  gen- 

eral standing  and  success.    For  example  a 

judge  placing  a  man  high  in  the  scale  for  intelligence,  would  tend 
to  place  him  high  also  for  information  or  skill  or  managerial 
ability  regardless  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  Opposed  to  this  is 
another  error  for  which  correction  often  should  be  made.  This 
is  known  as  "attenuation"39  and  in  general  is  an  error  that  tends 
to  reduce  the  value  of  the  coefficient.  Since  the  error  due  to  the 
"halo"  and  the  error  due  to  "attenuation"  operate  in  opposite  di- 
rections and  since  with  the  present  data  corrections  for  neither 
can  be  made  to  advantage,  each  will  be  assumed  to  equal  the 
other  and  therefore  to  have  little  or  no  effect  upon  the  finally 
accepted  coefficient  values. 


38.  See    article    by    Dr.    E.    L.    Thorndike— "A    Constant 
Error  in  Psychological  Ratings,"  pages  25-29.     The  Journal  of 
Applied  Psychology  Vol.  4,  No.  1. 

39.  Mental  and  Social  Measurements  by  E.  L.  Thorndike, 
pages  177-180. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 
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62 


BASES  FOR  CURRICULUM  MAKING 


Two  separately  ob- 
tained and  comput- 
ed sets  of  data  show 
a  remarkable  con- 
sistency. 


Probably  the  most  convincing  evidence  that  the  data  may 
be  taken  as  fundamentally  reliable  may  be  obtained  from  a  study 
of  Table  VI.    This  is  a  combination  table  including  the  data  of 
Table  III  as  given  on  page  21  and  a  second  set  of  data  simi- 
larly but  independently  obtained  from  the 
four   eastern  states   of   New  York,   New 
Jersey,   Connecticut  and   Maryland.42     A 
casual  inspection  of  these  figures  at  once 
shows  their  likeness.    In  no  case  is  there 
a  wide  divergence — the  widest  occurring 
in    the    inter-relationship    between    Field 

and  Chore  Skills  and  General  Education,  a  difference  of  only 
.119.  In  the  main,  the  procedure  in  obtaining  these  two  sets 
of  data  were  sufficiently  alike  to  make  it  possible  to  compute 
their  proable  error,  which  roves  to  be  only  .035.43 

42.  These  data  were  obtained  and  worked  up  before 
the  Middle  Western  States'  data  were  gathered.  The  latter 
were  much  more  carefully  guarded  and  procedure  more  fully 
standardized  so  it  is  felt  that  their  probably  increased  accuracy 
justified  their  use  in  the  study  in  preference  to  that  first  ob- 
tained. Business  ability  was  not  included  in  the  earlier  study 
and  a  few  inter-correlations  were  incomplete. 

43.  Having  these  two  sets  of  da- 
ta obtained  and  computed  in  similar 
ways  but  entirely  independently  the 
probable  error  may  be  found  as  fol- 
lows: Beginning  with  the  r(fi)  rela- 
tion which  has  the  two  values  .689 
and  .732  the  difference,  substracting 
algebraically,  between  the  two  is 
found  to  be  — .043.  Continuing  this  the 
difference  for  all  the  relations  (with- 
out repetitions)  may  be  arranged  in  a 
scale  as  given  at  the  left.  From  this  it  is 
readily  seen  that  the  first  and  third 
quartiles  fall  at  +.045  and  at  — .045. 
Adding  these  and  dividing  by  two 
gives  the  .045  which  may  be  taken  as 
the  PE  of  the  differences.  Using  the 


2 
2 
3 
6 
10 


Scale  Fre-  To- 

quencies  tals 

+.100  to  +.090  1  1 
+.090  to  +.080  1 
+.080  to  +.070  0 
+.070  to  +.060  1 
+.060  to  +.050  3 
+.050  to  +-040  4 
+.040  to  +.030  3  13 
+.030  to  +.020  2  15 
+ .020  to  +.010  1  16 
-f  .010  to  .000  1  17 
.000  to  —.010  2  19 
—.010  to  —.020  1  20 
—.020  to  —.030  1  21 
—.030  to  —.040  2  23 
_.040  to  —.050  4  27 
—.050  to  —.060  1  28 
—.060  to  —.070  2  30 
—.070  to  —.080  1  31 
—.080  to  —.090  0  31 
—.090  to  —.100  2  33 
—.100  to  —.110  0  33 
—.110  to  —.120  1  34 


formula:   PE  dif= ^PEa2+PEb2  and 

substituting  we  have  .045=\/2PE2  be- 
cause the  PE  of  the  eastern  data  (a) 
may  be  assumed  equal  to  the  PE  of 
the  western  data  (b).  Solving  this 
equation  PE  equals  .0345. 


RURAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION         63 

This  means  that  the  true  value  will  stand  fifty  chances  out 
of  a  hundred  of  being  not  more  than  .035  greater  or  less  than  the 
obtained  value.  It  means  that  a  coefficient  of  .600  would  not  be 
greater  than  .635  or  less  than  .565  in  fifty  out  of  one  hundred 
cases.  However,  the  more  nearly  a  coefficient  approximates 
zero,  the  larger  the  probable  error  will  be  but  even  so,  the  prob- 
able error  of  a  zero  coefficient  would  equal  only  .054.  So  far  as 
the  present  study  is  concerned,  these  values  are  practically  neg- 
ligible. 

The  writer,  of  course,  must  be  considered  as  a  prejudiced 
witness.  Nevertheless,  he  would  like  to  state  in  further  defense 
of  the  method  that  a  conception  of  its  reliability  has  grown  upon 
him,  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  scarcely  ever  did  even  a  second 
or  third  order  partial  coefficient  prove  inconsistent  with  the  gen- 
eral results  of  the  study.  For  a  time  it  seemed  impossible  to  accept 
some  of  the  relationships  indicated  by  the  partial  correlations 
having  to  do  with  general  education,  but  the  further  those  re- 
sults were  considered  in  connection  with 

The  resulting  coeffi-  actual  farm  communities,  the  more  their 
cients  show  a  re-  possible  truth  came  to  be  recognized.  It 
markable  consist-  is  suggested  that  the  age-old  indifference 
ency.  of  farming  communities  to  much  general 

education  for  themselves,  beyond  the  com- 
munity level,  may  be  a  little  positive  evidence  in  this  particular. 
Again,  a  third  set  of  data  was  separately  obtained  and  so 
far   as   it   has   been   worked   up   it   fully 

The  rating  of  2,000,-  substantiates  the  data  used  and  in  sev- 
000  men  would  in-  eral  cases  actually  proves  identical.  This 
crease  the  reliability  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  central  ten- 
but  would  probably  dencies  accepted  for  the  2,000  middle 
not  greatly  change  western  farmers  and  also  found  practically 
the  actually  accept-  the  same  for  the  eastern  groups  and  still 
ed  values.  further  backed  up  by  the  third  or  final  set, 

so  far  as  computed,  would  be  the  most 

probable  central  tendencies  were  two  million  men  rated  instead 
of  the  four  or  five  thousand  that  were  actually  considered. 


VITA 

EDGAR  CREIGHTON  HIGBIE  was  born  in  Green 
Lake  County,  Wisconsin,  July  31,  1875. 

He  received  his  early  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
Minnesota  and  in  Ripon  College  Academy,  Ripon,  Wisconsin. 
He  was  a  student  at  Carleton  College,  Northfield,  Minnesota,  in 
1901  and  1902  and  received  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  Edu- 
cation and  Master  of  Arts,  respectively  in  1907  and  1909  from  the 
University  of  Minnesota. 

He  taught  rural  and  graded  schools  in  Wisconsin  and 
Minnesota  for  four  years  and  was  city  superintendent  of  high 
school  systems  for  five  years,  after  which  he  was  superintendent 
of  the  West  Central  School  and  Station  of  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota for  seven  years.  From  this  last  position  he  resigned  in 
1917  to  pursue  further  study  for  the  Doctors  Degree  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  ond  Columbia  University.  He  is  a  member 
of  Minnesota  Chapter  of  Phi  Delta  Kappa. 


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